The Rising Sun, the Setting Moon
by Tigrin
Summary: It's Jack's 100th birthday, and all he wants is to make a friend. After his first big jump away from home, he crashes in Edo-era Japan, and meets a mysterious white hare with the power to control ice and snow...
1. Chapter 1

The Rising Sun, the Setting Moon

旭日, 落月

* * *

One hundred years had passed since he first emerged from that frozen lake, but he had not aged a single day. The reflection of his pale, youthful face was only a foggy image in the ice; he tried to clear it with a bare hand, but without any warmth in his fingers, it hardly made a difference. If anything, the wave of his hand only made more frost bloom across the surface of the ice, slicing up his blurred reflection in an intricate, spiral pattern. With a sigh, he sat back on the tips of his toes, numb to the biting chill beneath his feet.

A breeze tousled the locks of his white hair, and stirred up the familiar, rustling song of dry leaves and pine needles. Over a hundred years, the trees had grown taller. The level of water in the lake swelled in the wet years and shrank in the dry. Fissures and crevices from long years of trickling water bore through the hide of the rocky overhang bordering the north end of the lake. The burrows of animals were dug out and filled in; birds' nests were thatched together and torn apart.

This was the only place he'd ever known. Beyond the darkness of water, a cracking sheet of ice, and the round, bright moon that gave him his name – Jack Frost – he had no other memories. One hundred years of sunrises and sunsets, of snow and spring rain, of the phases of the moon, but nothing before that.

Jack reached for the wooden staff beside him. It was nearly as long as he was tall, and ended in a notched, jagged crook. As his fingers brushed the staff, frost curled from his fingertips, running along the creases of the wood. He turned the staff gingerly in his hands, inspecting it, but it was the only thing other than him that never changed. It was the first thing he had ever touched. It never left his side.

He rose to his feet, and blue eyes scanned the trees around him. The last of a flurry of red, yellow, and brown leaves clung to bare branches. They blanketed the forest floor, giving the afternoon air above them a warm glow. Snow hung in the billowing clouds above. He smiled. Easy as breathing, he called the wind to him. It swirled around his feet as first his heels, then his toes lifted off the ice. The heavy brown cloth of his cape flapped around his shoulders as the wind shot up around him. He floated up into the air, the long sleeves of his shirt twisting around his arms. Leaves twirled in the wind, chasing his ascent above the trees. As if waiting for this cue, the snow began to fall, the soft flakes dusting his shoulders and dancing along the lengths of his arms.

From way up here he could see across the woods into the distance, and the shimmering waters of the river cutting a path through the trees. Not far away, the glow of lanterns in windows marked the spot of a town just beginning to prepare for nightfall. With a grin, he let the wind carry him closer, the snow chasing behind him.

Jack touched down on the dirt of the main street just before the snow did. What had once been a small cluster of log cabins had grown into rows of two-story brick and clapboard buildings. All around him, horses stomped or champed on bits; dogs barked; wagon wheels creaked; voices murmured or called to one another; children screamed and laughed, chasing the snow flakes; merchants ran about dragging barrels and crates out of reach of the falling snow. He walked down the street with his staff leaning against his shoulder. He tried to weave out of the way, but a man stumbled backwards, and his shoulder went right through Jack's in a bluish haze. Jack leapt up out of the way onto a flag pole posted to the side of a sign, with "BURGESS GENERAL" marked in faded letters. Frost spiraled up the pole and froze stiff the standard of red, white, and blue cloth, with its fifteen stars and stripes.

Below him, three gentlemen stood talking, huddled together under an awning. The eldest man had streaks of gray in his hair and was perusing a newspaper; he turned the paper down to brush off some flakes of snow. Another man stood smoking a pipe, eyeing the paper. The third was a young man who didn't look much different from Jack. He was watching the two older men with his arms crossed.

"I'm telling you, this war was a mistake," said the man with the pipe, shaking his head at the newspaper.

"Now you're starting to sound like one of those Federalist blokes up north," said the young man, eyeing the other with some distaste. "Are you not a countryman?"

"Aye, but being a countryman's got nothing to do with it. What use do we have in war?"

The young man's face tinged with color. "A great many, I'd say, where liberty is concerned. Where is your solidarity? Where is your honor?"

"There's no honor in war," the elder man growled, lowering the newspaper.

The young man laughed. "Spoken by a hypocrite! Did you not fight in the revolution?"

"Don't speak of what you don't understand," the elder man snapped. "You're too young to know. I may be proud of my country, but it was won with the blood of my kin. There is no pride or honor in seizing the life of another man."

"That may be, if those lives were equal."

The elder man's grip tightened on the paper. The man with the pipe glanced back and forth between the two. "You'd be best to back down, lad," he said, pulling the pipe from his mouth. "We're all patriots here. But this war has gone ill for us, and won't fare well. It's too soon, and our militia too few. If it were just the Royal Navy as our enemy, I'd be inclined to agree. But we're pushing in all directions at once."

"If our numbers be too few, then no doubt it is due to such cowards and minstrels as you two," the young man said.

"You plan on volunteering, then?" said the elder man.

"On the morrow, if I could."

"Go on, then," he said, shaking the paper at the young man's nose, "and rid us of the stupidity of youth."

With a huff, the younger man turned and stamped away into the gathering darkness. By now, snow had accumulated in the tracks in the dirt and settled on the gentlemen's coats and hats.

With a sigh, the man with the pipe tossed the last of the burning leaves into the dirt. "He'll grow out of it, one can hope." He rubbed the arms of his coat. "Come on, let's get back. We'll catch our deaths of cold out here, and we'll miss supper asides that."

The older man grunted, tucked the newspaper under his arm, and followed the other man down the street.

The streets were clearing, and Jack found himself alone once more. Jack leaned back against the side of the general store, stretching his legs out towards the frozen flag. "Another war, huh," Jack muttered under his breath. He could still recall the tell-tale marks of war: the scent of gunpowder and iron, the far-off glow of fire and the choking darkness of smoke blotting the sun, the popping of musket fire and the boom of cannons. He knew the wounded soldiers that returned with their mud and blood-stained uniforms were the lucky ones. Jack frowned as he mulled over what this new war could mean to this place that he had called home for so many decades.

With a sigh, he jumped to his feet and up to the roof above him. From up here, he could look down the street and see the glow of lanterns streaming out windows, where families were just sitting down to eat together. Jack hopped from roof to roof, peering past the curtains into windows, frost gathering at the edges of the glass. Later, he watched the mothers tuck their children into bed as the lanterns were extinguished one by one.

Jack sat at the edge of a roof and waited, legs swinging, kicking at the snowflakes with his bare feet. Sure enough, tendrils of golden sand, like strings of light in the darkness, reached out from beyond the forest towards the houses. They slipped through the cracks and crevices of windows to the beds where children lay dreaming. Jack kicked at one of the golden threads and a sandy horse whinnied to life, galloping around before dissolving back into the streams of sand. The mysterious sand was yet another thing no one but Jack seemed to notice, yet it came every night without fail.

Jack hopped to his feet, balancing the staff across his shoulders, as he followed one of the tendrils of light back across the roofs to the edge of town. The sand bypassed the new brick church building, and the old cemetery behind it. Jack leapt over to the church and down into the yard, strolling past stone tombstones and crude wooden crosses. The grounds were covered in a thin layer of snow, obscuring the names and dates. Jack didn't look at them; he didn't need to. He'd seen most of these graves when they were first dug.

His attention caught onto a black cat perched on top of a headstone, making a meal of a small mouse. If its black fur didn't stand out so much against the white snow, it would have been invisible in the darkness. The cat looked up as Jack approached, licking blood from its whiskers, its eyes flashing.

"Hey, kitty," Jack said, leaning against the staff. "Isn't it a bit rude to eat on a grave?"

The cat just stared back, nonplussed.

Jack sighed. "Why's it the only thing that can see me can't talk back?" he muttered. "Wouldn't hurt to hear a 'Happy Birthday' from someone today." He glanced around at the headstones. "Though, maybe this isn't the place to hear it."

The cat lashed its tail in annoyance. It dipped its head to continue eating, but suddenly sat bolt upright, ears perked and eyes wide. It was staring off past Jack's shoulder, and Jack turned to look out of reflex.

A misty figure was gliding along by the graves. Even if Jack squinted, he could barely make out its features. The details faded in and out, as if it couldn't remember how it was supposed to look. It was making its way around the graveyard in no particular hurry, one hand trailing across the headstones.

The cat hissed and bolted, leaving the remnants of its meal behind. Jack froze in place, watching the figure. It turned its head to look in his direction, and without thinking, he leapt high up in the air, riding the wind back to the small lake in the woods.

He touched down just beside the lake, the breeze stirring up the fresh powder of snow on the leaves. For a moment he just tried to catch his breath, staring across the frozen lake, before turning around.

A little ways back from the edge of the lake stood an old log cabin. It had been here as long as he could remember, though the inhabitants were long gone. Over the long years, the wood was slowly rotting away, and the roof had collapsed in places. The door barely clung to its hinges; with a small push, he squeezed into the house.

Little remained of the inside. A rusting iron bed frame sat crooked against one wall, and a stove against another with its door ajar. The legs had cracked on a pair of wooden chairs that sat sideways in the dirt. Moss covered a table leaning on three legs. Glass from an oil lantern was scattered across the floor, nearly hidden in a thick mass of weeds. A pair of deer antlers were still mounted to one of the walls, vines curling around it. A few rings of rusted metal were all that remained of a barrel. Jack stood in the middle of the room and tried to remember what the old inhabitants were like, but it was too long ago. It could have been one of them in the graveyard.

A dim light brightened on the mossy table, and Jack peered up through the hole in the roof. The snow-laden clouds were clearing away, and a full moon was shining down. Brows furrowing, Jack climbed up onto the table and leapt through the hole in the roof, balancing on the edge. He gazed up at the moon, waiting, hoping, but there was nothing but the wind in trees.

Jack's grip tightened on the staff. "Don't you have anything to say to me?" Jack called to the moon.

Jack waited, but still, nothing. He started to pace along the edge of the decaying roof. "Is this it? A hundred years, for what? Why? What is it I'm supposed to be doing? Did I do something wrong in another life or something? Am I being punished? What is it?!"

He stopped, his hands falling to his sides, the staff dangling loosely from his grip. He shook his head and grasped the staff, swinging it against the roof. Ice exploded out of the end, freezing the thatch of the roof in a blast of frosty air. " _Answer me!_ " Jack screamed.

His voice echoed around the trees as he stood panting, glaring up at the moon, shining through a thin veil of clouds. Drained, Jack sunk backwards, sprawling out against the jagged sheet of ice he'd made across the roof. He propped the staff up with his foot and rubbed at his face with both hands. "Who are you even talking to, Jack," he grumbled to himself. "There's no one up there. Probably never has been."

He let his arms fall out to his sides, gazing up at the sky. Clouds were starting to cover the moon, and it was growing darker. Snow started to fall again, sprinkling across his body, catching in his eyelashes. "Why am I still here?" he whispered. "If the answers were here, I would have found them by now... right? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

He sat up, shaking the snow out of his hair. "There has to be somebody out there. Someone who can tell me who I am, and what I'm supposed to do now. I just... have to go find them."

Leaning on his staff, he stood up, squinting around. He could just barely see the surface of the lake shining in the darkness, and the silhouettes of the trees around him. Breath puffed in and out of his chest in shallow bursts as he realized what he had to do. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, picturing every detail of the place: the water, the leaves, the snow, the dirt, the creaking roof beneath his feet. Then he jumped.

The wind caught him, tossing him up into the air. He clutched tightly onto the staff with both hands as he soared upwards. Freezing water pricked at his face as he shot into the clouds, and he winced. For a moment he could see nothing but fuzzy shapes of light and dark, but before he could panic, he burst out of the top of the clouds. Up here the stars and the moon shone so bright that Jack had to snap his eyes shut again. The howling of the wind quieted, and he hung there between the clouds and the top of the sky as his eyes adjusted. Torn between exhilaration and panic, he looked out at an endless field of stars and clouds around him.

"Okay, Jack... now what," he muttered. He was still climbing, but much slower. He'd never been up this high before, and his hands trembled. All the clouds looked the same, and he wasn't sure which part he'd come from, or where he should go to. He glanced up at the moon, which looked enormous to him from this height. "Don't suppose you have any ideas."

He strayed a little higher, and a gust of wind slammed into him. " _Woah!_ " Jack was sent tumbling forward, caught up in the current. Clouds and sky, clouds and sea, clouds and dark earth below him, all went spinning wildly around. He wrapped himself around the staff, concentrating all his might on trying to stabilize himself. Things spun a little slower. He was so high up now that he could actually see the earth curving ahead of him, framed with a pale glow. He looked down and felt instantaneous regret when he saw how far away the ground was. "How do I stop this thing?!" he shrieked desperately into the wind.

The wind died. Jack slipped out of the current, and he dropped, picking up speed as he went. He screamed as the world spun around him. He was shooting through layers of clouds again when he finally stopped screaming long enough to reach out for the wind. He was thrown back and forth as he tried to slow himself down and stop the spinning. He had just managed to stop tumbling and face the ground when he tore through the canopy of trees, snapping branches and rustling leaves, crashing to a halt in a thicket of bushes.

"Ughhh," he groaned. He sat up, spitting leaves out of his mouth and shaking dirt out of his clothes. He tried to look around, but it was almost pitch dark; he could just barely make out the outlines of trees around him. For a moment he thought he might have miraculously ended up back where he started, but there was no snow, and he didn't recognize the trees. He turned this way and that but couldn't get any better idea of where he was. He looked for the tallest tree in view and began to climb, leaping from branch to branch, until he breached the canopy at the top.

He was standing atop a large pine in a forest of trees, stretching out around him. In the distance, he could see a pale glow along the horizon. He turned around to see the forest climbing up around hills behind him towards the jagged lines of tall mountains. The moon was setting beside a towering, snow-topped mountain. He was about to turn away when a dark shape leapt across the moon. It was the silhouette of an enormous hare, flying towards the forests surrounding the mountain. Startled, Jack almost let go of the top of the tree, and had to summon a puff of wind to keep himself upright. When he looked again the shadow was gone.

Stunned, Jack just stared towards the mountain, but he didn't see the figure again. Light was creeping across the tops of the trees now, and he turned to see the sun inching above the horizon behind him. Through the mist in the growing light he could just make out rolling hills, glistening lines of rivers, endless patches of fields, and the miniscule shapes of buildings dotted around the landscape.

"Where am I?"


	2. Chapter 2

Days flowed into weeks as Jack took in everything he could about this new place he'd come to recognize as "Edo".

Dropped in the forests out in the countryside, at first he only came across tiny, isolated villages of wooden and thatched houses. This, at least, felt familiar to him. The forests gave way to seemingly endless fields of rice and vegetables, and farming villages clustered around dirt roads. He followed the roads winding their way towards the coast, which were always packed with people, more than he'd ever seen. Farmers with carts of goods; wealthy merchants hidden inside carriages lifted on the broad shoulders of peasants; seemingly endless caravans of lords and their dozens of attendants; groups of religious pilgrims on their way to temples; women clutching the hands of children; all clogged the roads, occasionally passed by a messenger flying on horseback. They passed in and out of gates and checkpoints, into dense towns that had sprung up along the main roads. Jack walked up and down rows of inns of all levels of wealth and saw shops and restaurants of every kind, in towns where people stayed before heading on down the road.

In places the roads stopped at river crossings. More towns clustered around ferries and ports along the rivers, and if anything, the rivers were busier than the roads. Ferry boats and large merchant ships, their sails billowing in the wind, all jockeyed for space on the waters of rivers, canals, and moats, cutting across the landscape in a grid. Jack spent days following the boats up and down the river, until they reached the port towns on the coast. Here, gulls played amongst the reeds in the marsh along the bay, and Jack spent hours gazing out across the endless expanse of the ocean. He watched ships of all sizes load and unload cargo at the docks, and followed fishing boats as they cast their nets out to sea, and returned to fishing villages.

Everywhere around him were new sights and unfamiliar places. Elaborate pagoda temples, many centuries older than he was, were crowded with pilgrims and monks. Complex blocks of craftsmen and artisan districts churned out every type of good imaginable: rolls of dyed cloth, shelves of porcelain and pottery, straw mats and sandals, rows of furniture. Immense, white-washed earth buildings topped in ceramic tile stood along the rivers, housing grain and dry goods. Crowded markets and rows upon rows of specialty shops catered to the wealthy. Sprawling mansions sat atop hills, surrounded by beautiful tended gardens. In the entertainment districts, Jack snuck into theaters to watch plays and listen to music, or strolled past tea houses and gourmet restaurants. At the center of it all, a castle sprawled, hidden behind walls and gates.

Even after weeks of exploring, it was too much to take in. He tried to get a better sense of where he was by following people around, who, to his disappointment (but not surprise), didn't notice him at all. The people here were completely foreign to the people he saw back home. The style and decoration of clothing varied widely between the peasants and the elite, but they all looked oddly like robes to Jack. Most of the women wore very elaborate hairstyles, ornaments pinned to their black hair. Everyone spoke a language that Jack could not recognize at all, and even after weeks of eavesdropping, he could barely distinguish the words, other than to figure out the names of certain places or things. He tried looking for signs that could tell him more, but everything was written in a weird script full of characters that he couldn't read, and he soon gave up on this.

While he sometimes saw men with curved swords, guarding districts or mansions or traveling down roads, he didn't see very many weapons apart from that. Though he looked, he couldn't find any armies, any battlefields, any sign of war at all. All of the old walls and towers and fortresses looked to be remnants of times of conflict long past. Everything was established and old, much older than Jack, and he marveled at a sense of time far beyond him.

* * *

One day, as he was strolling through an entertainment district, he stumbled upon stalls of art. He didn't see much art back home, so he was drawn to the displays of woodblock prints. The style was fairly simple, with ink lines and washes of color, but the subject matter was broad and complex. Most were of the local landscape, or beautiful women. Some were caricatures of the actors he had seen in plays, dressed in wild costumes.

Of the art he saw, he was most drawn to the pictures of fanciful creatures and spirits. Animals in people's clothing, possessed objects, ghosts with long hair, demons with sharp beaks, all filled up rolls of paper. He sifted through all of them, wondering if such creatures really existed. Were they mere figments of imagination, or glimpses of another world, of beings like himself? As he browsed through stalls of these drawings, his eyes caught on one that stopped him in his tracks.

It was an ink drawing of an enormous hare. It was so large that it dwarfed the buildings at its feet. It stood with its mouth gaping and its eyes wide, long ears flowing out from its head. Its tail whipped around its body, splotched with gray ink. Its open mouth framed a full moon in a washed-out night sky.

"That's it!" Jack yelped. He was so excited he nearly blew away all the other pictures in a gust of wind. As one of the merchants behind the stall scrambled to pick up the scattered papers, Jack got a closer look at the drawing. He was sure it was the spirit he'd seen when he arrived, and if this one was real, then some of the others had to be, too. He looked around the picture, searching for any kind of hint of where he could find the hare. In the backdrop, a forest and the lines of mountains were sketched in.

Jack glanced over at the merchant, still distracted picking up the paper. Feeling just a bit guilty, Jack folded up the paper and stuffed it in his pocket, jumping up onto the roofs of the shops in front of him. As he ran along the rows of shops, hopping across streets and alleyways, he couldn't help grinning.

* * *

Jack flew across the markets and rivers, farms and fields, back to the line of trees marking the forest he'd landed in. If there was anywhere he'd find beings like himself, he reasoned, they'd have to be somewhere more isolated. After all, if he didn't see them, they must be hiding.

He spent several days searching around the more secluded villages and around the forest. Once in a while he thought he caught glimpses of strange creatures: a fox waving three tails, monstrous birds, tiny wooden shapes darting between trees, odd trailing lights like balls of flame. Every time he thought he saw one, he'd look again and it would disappear. Nowhere did he see anything like the hare in the drawing he took. The more he searched, the more frustrated he became.

As the days stretched on, the snowy season finally hit. Irritated and more than a little disappointed, he found a rocky spot deep in the forest to sit and think things over. The snow sprinkled around him until he was almost covered in it. He let out a long sigh.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a flicker of movement. He turned his head to stare over at the line of trees across from him. At first he couldn't see anything unusual, but as he stared, the features of the forest floor rearranged themselves, until he could just make out the outline of a tiny white hare. It was sitting very still by the foot of a large tree, staring at him. Jack shook the snow off and jumped down from the boulder, creeping towards the hare. As he got closer, he realized it was not actually a hare, but a snow sculpture of one. It had small pebbles for eyes and long leaves for ears. He'd seen some children making these the day before, but there weren't any children for miles around.

Confused, he bent down to get a closer look. As he stared at it, the head of the snow hare began to move, revolving to look at him. The sculpture grew in size, until it nearly reached the top of his head. Stunned, Jack just watched, until the hare lunged at him. With a cry of shock, Jack fell backwards into the snow behind him. The sculpture flew over his head and burst, showering him with chunks of snow. As Jack struggled to throw the snow off of him, he heard a giggle behind him, and snapped around.

A hare – a real one – was sitting in the snow, watching him. Its fur was pure white up to its ears, which were splotched with black. There was a round spot of black just above each eye, which were a brilliant blue. It was much smaller than the sculpture, but still larger than the hares he'd seen before in the forest, and he'd never seen one with blue eyes. It shook the snow from its fur, tilting its head.

"Bet you thought that was _really_ funny," Jack said, glaring at it.

The hare flicked its ears and looked away, aloof. It made as if to hop back towards the forest, stretching its legs, but instead, kicked up snow into Jack's face.

"Oh, that's _it_!" Jack swung blindly with his staff, but the hare was already leaping back towards the forest in great bounds. Jack floated to his feet and shot after it.

Jack chased the hare through the forest, bouncing off tree trunks and over bushes, dodging branches. If he got too close, icicles would shoot off the trees around him, and by the time he'd fended them off, the hare would be leaping in another direction. After several minutes of going in circles, listening to disembodied laughter echoing around the trees, Jack started tagging the tree trunks with his staff. Frost burst out of his staff and spun across the trees like webs. After dodging several of these, the hare finally reached a circle of trees where the webs of ice enclosed them on every side. It hopped on the spot, confused.

That split second was enough. Jack leapt forward, grabbing the hare around the middle with both hands just as it jumped to kick apart one of the webs. "Gotcha!"

The hare shrieked as they both went face down into the snow. Victorious, Jack just laid for a moment in the snow before pulling himself to his feet and holding the hare out in front of him. It was squirming wildly in an attempt to break free. "Hah! Not so funny now, is it?" he gloated. "Now, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Hanashite!" the hare squeaked, kicking at his arms.

"Aaah!" Jack screamed, dropping the hare. It hit the ground and Jack was blinded by a cloud of snow. He stumbled backwards. The puff of snow cleared away. At his feet where the hare had once been, a girl was sprawled backwards against the snow, glaring up at him in annoyance.


	3. Chapter 3

For a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, Jack stared into eyes that, for the first time, stared right back into his. He watched the inky blue irises flicker back and forth as they studied him studying her. Her narrowed eyes were set in a round face as pale and bright as the snow around them, her cheeks and lips tinged with gray-blue, her brows just black smudges on her forehead. Her black hair was gathered into loose tails like floppy ears on either side of her face, the rest stretching out behind her like a flowing curtain, gathered together at the end. She was dressed in layers of robes not unlike the ones he often saw in the city, but they were pure white, etched delicately with embroidered patterns that only revealed themselves in the light. They were so long in the sleeves that her hands were hidden, and they sat open, revealing a plain, folded robe under a long, pleated skirt that hid her legs and feet.

Jack gaped down at her, stunned, and the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them: "Who are you? _What_ are you?"

She tossed her head, snow flaking off her hair. " _Kochirakoso, dare? Naze atashi o oikaketeita?"_ she asked in a high-pitched voice.

"Uh..." Jack grimaced.

The girl leapt to her feet. At full height, she was still a head shorter than Jack. Physically, she appeared to be twelve years old. She paced around him curiously. " _Kono fuku ga okashii_ ," she giggled, tugging at the layers of his cape.

Jack didn't need to understand what she was saying to get that he was being teased. "Hey, cut that out!" he said, making a swipe for her. She dodged out of the way, grinning.

" _Kono kami mo!"_ she said, leaping in for just a moment to tousle his hair before dancing out of the way again.

Jack clasped the top of his head with his hands. "Hey, you're a little weird yourself, you know!"

The girl stepped backwards and nearly tripped on Jack's staff lying half-hidden in the snow. Wheeling her arms, she leapt backwards and regained her footing, staring down at the staff. " _Kore nani_?" she chirped, reaching for it.

"No!" Jack dived for the staff, pulling it away just as her fingertips brushed its surface. He held it protectively against his side. The girl blinked up at him in alarm. "Uh... I mean..." He cleared his throat and held out the staff. "This isn't a toy."

" _Tokubetsu da?_ " Her eyes roamed up and down the staff with an air of mischief. " _Naze nan darou..._ "

Jack grasped the staff with both hands, watching the girl. For a moment she just stood silently, and in a blur of white and black, she charged for the staff. Instinctively he leapt up into the air, with a burst of wind that whipped up the snow at his feet like a small explosion. The girl staggered backwards, protecting her face with her arms. Jack hovered in the air just out of her reach. She shook her head to clear the snow and gazed up at him in amazement. Unwittingly, he felt himself smirk. "Can't do that, can you?"

The girl understood the mocking tone in his voice. With a huff, she spread her arms, and the snow rushed towards her, rising beneath her feet like an upside-down funnel. Jack floated backwards in surprise as she quickly rose to his level, looking pleased with herself.

"Okay... let's see how you deal with this!" he said, and he swooped down along the ground, waving the staff. Snowballs popped up and floated into the air, forming a ring around the girl. The locks of her hair whipped around as she watched the snowballs get into position. Jack hovered out of the way and whistled, and the snowballs started hurling themselves at the girl. She shrieked, unable to dodge the barrage. A few she was able to swat away, the balls of snow exploding outwards at her touch into fans of icicles. The icicles turned on point and began following Jack, and his eyes grew wide as one sailed past his ear, fraying his hair.

The last of the snowballs were now spiked clusters of ice spinning around the clearing, hunting Jack. He flew in and out of the trees, the icicles shattering on contact with the trunks, or embedding themselves like needles in the bark. He could hear the girl laughing from the middle of the clearing. Frost patterns burst across the trees in his wake as he flew around in circles, and he struck down the last pursuing icicle into a shower of icy sparks. He floated down and skidded to a halt next to the girl, nearly breathless from the joy of the chase. The girl was gazing past him, no longer laughing, with an odd expression on her face. His smile faltered, and he glanced over his shoulder.

The trees all around them were covered in beautiful, spiraling layers of frost. The shattered icicles and puffs of snow had created dazzling icy shapes amidst the leaves and pine needles. The dark ground beneath them was now bare of snow from their play.

Jack glanced down at the girl, who slowly turned to blink up at him. Their expressions were mirrored looks of wonder and barely restrained joy.

"I'm Jack Frost," he said, holding out a hand.

She tilted her head at his outstretched hand. " _Jakku Furosuto_?" She giggled, and pointed to her nose. " _Atashi wa Tsukiko_ ,"

"'Tsukiko'?" Jack said. She nodded. He smiled. "It's nice to meet you... Tsukiko."

She grinned and finally took his hand. Hers was just as cold as his own.


	4. Chapter 4

For the first time in a hundred years, Jack was not alone. As two beings that required neither food nor sleep, Jack and Tsukiko spent every moment of every day together. There was always something to do, and if they weren't playing with or teasing one another, they were getting to know more about each other.

As a stranger in a foreign land, Jack relied on Tsukiko to show him more about the world around him, and to understand the language she spoke. After a few days, Tsukiko would just bark out the word for something that Jack pointed at without the need for him to ask. She acted annoyed and superior about it, but Jack knew she was just as happy to share the things she knew with someone else as he was to learn them.

After long bouts of play together, Tsukiko would grow tired and need to revert back to her hare form for a time. In this form, her powers over ice and snow were much weaker, but she was no less agile or mischievous. She loved to tease the animals of the forest, especially the foxes and the raccoons who saw her as prey, and received a nasty shock of icicles to the face for their trouble. Once she even managed to lure a bear. For a moment, Jack was afraid he was about to witness the end of his new friend, but Tsukiko was no ordinary hare, and more than a match for the bear's lumbering movement. The bear thrashed about, ripping apart bushes and tearing the bark from trees, but couldn't touch a single hair on Tsukiko's back. Jack's fear melted into mirth, and for a final blow, he jumped down and swung his staff, tossing a blast of frigid air in the bear's face. With a roar, the bear toppled over and loped away into the forest, his frustrated grunts echoing through the trees. Jack and Tsukiko laughed for hours. They were a team, and every animal in the forest began to dart away at the mere sight of Tsukiko.

It wasn't only animals that Tsukiko enjoyed teasing. Though they spent most of their time in the forest, they occasionally moved closer to the small, local farming villages. With the cold weather, there was little for the villagers to do, especially the children. Jack and Tsukiko took up teasing the villagers by tossing snowballs at them, laughing hysterically each time a person looked about wildly for the source of the throw, especially if it started a fight.

One day, they spotted some children putting together snow rabbits. With a smirk, Tsukiko popped into her hare form and crept up on them. Once she was close enough, she gathered the snow around her to imitate the sculptures they were making. Jack rolled his eyes, realizing he was about to witness the same trick that had been pulled on him.

The children noticed the new sculpture with some confusion and crawled over to inspect it. As Jack expected, Tsukiko's snow form grew rapidly to twice the size of the children, and they screamed, falling over each other to get away. Tsukiko burst through the snow in her hare form and chased after them. Once the children realized it was only a normal hare pursuing them (or so they thought), their screams turned to laughter, and they began chasing Tsukiko in return. While more numerous, they were no more adept at catching her than the bear, and they were all soon exhausted and breathless, slumped over in the snow. Tsukiko looked back at them with a twitch of her ears and hopped over to where Jack stood beside a small house.

Jack looked down at Tsukiko in amazement. "They can see you?" he said, incredulous. She tilted her head, and he pointed at his eyes, pointed to the children, and then pointed down at her.

" _Mieru?_ " Tsukiko said in a small, squeaky voice. " _Touzen da yo!_ "

Jack felt a stabbing pang of jealousy, and a slight grimace crossed his face. It might be only her hare form that humans could see, but, to be seen at all! He'd give up just about anything. Before Tsukiko could register the expression on his face, he turned away. "Race you back!" he called, voice faltering a little, and shot away towards the forest. He glanced behind him and could just make out the tiny white form of Tsukiko darting after him. For the first time, he wondered if he wouldn't rather be alone.

* * *

Tsukiko wandered around the outskirts of the forest, her robes and skirt trailing along the dirt. " _Jakku?_ " she called. " _Doko da?_ " She peered around the trees and squatted to check under bushes. " _Kakureteiru kana..._ "

She was rounding the trunk of a large pine when a brown blur dropped from the top of her vision. Tsukiko gave a shriek of surprise and stumbled backwards. Jack was hanging by his knees from a low-lying branch, swinging back and forth while he laughed at the look of shock on Tsukiko's face.

" _Bikkurishita..._ " she sighed, clutching her chest, and glared up at Jack.

[Sorry!] Jack replied back in her language. He swung down from the branch, dropping in front of her.

[I wasn't scared,] she said, turning up her nose.

[Liar,] Jack chuckled.

Tsukiko turned away, and her eyes caught on something on the forest floor. Before Jack could notice this shift in attention, she darted forward and snatched it. It was the folded parchment of the print Jack had swiped from the art stall; it had fallen from his waistcoat when he flipped upside-down.

"Hey, that's mine! Give it back!" Jack said, reaching for the paper. The two wrestled for a moment before a cloud of snow exploded in Jack's face. He coughed and looked about to see Tsukiko in her hare form, dragging the parchment behind her. He leapt for her just as she darted beneath a thorny shrub, the edge of the paper catching on a thorn and tearing slightly. Jack crouched next to the shrub, peering underneath. "Tsukiko," he whined.

There was a long, silent pause, and the sound of ripping paper as the print was ejected violently from the shrub. Jack salvaged the pieces as best as he could, and frowned as she wiggled her way out.

"Why'd you do that?" he groaned, studying the ripped image of the massive hare. "That was a mean thing to do, you know."

Tsukiko's ears drooped a bit, but she turned her head away.

"Do you hate other rabbits or something?"

[I don't like that one.]

[Why? What is it?]

" _Youkai_."

[ _'Youkai'?_ What's that?]

" _Bakemono nan da._ " When Jack stared blankly at her, she made some wild gestures as if she had long claws and fangs.

"Like a monster?" Jack gazed down at the picture again. It certainly looked monstrous, with its wide, rolling eyes and gaping mouth. He looked back to her and held up the tattered drawing. "Have you seen it before?" He pointed to his eyes and then to the drawing.

Tsukiko hesitated, pawing at the ground, and nodded once more. [It's scary,] she squeaked.

"Is that why you tore it up?" Jack mimed ripping up the paper. Tsukiko nodded. Jack stuffed the paper back into his pocket and tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Well, don't worry. I'd protect you. We're friends, right?"

Tsukiko tilted her head. Jack bit his lip and cleared a spot in the dirt. He tapped the end of his staff on the dirt, and frost darted out in thin lines, forming a crude picture of two people holding hands and smiling. "Friends," Jack said, pointing at the picture.

Tsukiko gazed at the picture, nose crinkling. " _Tomodachi?_ "

"Uh, yeah, I guess. _Tomodachi_."

She pawed at the drawing, ears twitching. " _Furenzu_..."

* * *

The one thing that Jack could not freeze was time, and the winter months passed by in a blur of white and brown. The last of the snow melted away, only to be replaced by a bloom of delicate, pale flowers that filled the trees of the towns and dusted across the busy roads. The warm weather brought ever more crowds of people out under the blossoms to drink and eat, gossip and sing.

As the ice disappeared and the air warmed, Jack noticed his friend become quieter and more lethargic. She spent more time in her hare form than not, and wanted nothing to do with the coming spring or the people it brought about. Jack found himself making many trips to explore the changing scenery alone. Every time he returned, he found Tsukiko further and further away from the towns and villages, until one day, he had trouble finding her at all.

He searched all around the places they normally played, from the tops of the flowering trees to the deepest thicket. Every time he caught a glimpse of a hare, he felt his breath catch, but it was never her. After several days, he had seen countless hares, emerging from their warrens and nests in droves to taste the spring air. He even tried looking into the burrows and calling Tsukiko's name, but his voice just echoed through the ground with no reply.

Crestfallen, Jack found himself back on the same pile of rocks where he'd first glimpsed Tsukiko, thinking over what to do. He spent hours watching the silent forest around him, the spring sun beaming uncomfortably on his face and shoulders. He breathed cold air onto his hands and patted his face, trying to stay cool. As the sun began to set beyond the tops of the trees and the clearing was plunged into shade, Jack rose to his feet with a sigh and turned his head towards the towns beyond the forest. He was about to leap up into the wind when the tiniest of movements out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

At the bottom of the rocks below his feet, little clouds of dirt were appearing just out of sight. Jack jumped down to investigate and noticed a small hole just under the largest rock. Something was kicking bits of dirt out of the hole. Some of the dirt looked slushy, as if it had been mixed with melted snow. Jack leaned down to get a closer look just as a tiny white nose poked out of the hole to sniff the afternoon air.

"Aha!" Jack yelped, and snatched at the hole. There was a sharp squeal as Jack ripped his hand away, clutching the ears of a large white hare with blue eyes. It was Tsukiko, her fur crusted with slushy mud, her eyes wide with surprise. [Found you!]

[Put me down!] she squeaked. Jack obliged, releasing her ears, and she dropped to her haunches. He crouched in front of her as she tried in vain to brush the mud from her fur with her paws.

"Is this what you've been doing all this time? Making a warren?" Jack asked, pointing to the hole. [Why?]

Tsukiko looked back at the hole and then up at the sky. [Because of _'haru'_ ,] she said.

[What's _'haru'_?]

Tsukiko hesitated, then ducked into her burrow. She emerged seconds later clutching something in her paws, which she dumped at Jack's feet. It was one of the blossoms Jack had seen all over the countryside. She pointed at the flower, then pointed up at the last rays of the setting sun. [ _Haru_. After winter.]

"Oh, spring, is that it?" Tsukiko nodded. Jack glanced from the sky, down to Tsukiko, down to the hole at the foot of the rock. "I think I get it... you don't like the spring, so you hibernate after winter?" [You sleep?]

Tsukiko nodded a bit more vigorously. [' _Natsu'_ and _'aki'_ too. After spring,] Tsukiko added.

"After... you sleep through summer and fall, too?!" [All year?] Jack cried.

Tsukiko's ears drooped a bit. [Awake just for winter,] she said

Jack poked at the flower with his staff, watching the petals curl a bit before freezing. "Just for winter... so I won't see you again until next winter?" He kneeled, the smile fading from his face. "So... I'll be alone again..."

Tsukiko hopped forward and gazed up into Jack's face. She looked about and pawed a spot on the ground smooth. She tapped it with her claw and frost like tiny icicles prickled its way across the dirt. Jack watched in mute fascination as the crystals formed a very crude imitation of a hare and a boy holding hands.

He laughed. "That's right. We're friends," he said, chuckling.

Tsukiko held out her paw. " _Yakusoku shite_ ," she said. Jack held out a hand so she could tap it with her paw. [Next winter, come back.]

Jack smiled and lightly grasped her paw. He could feel the cold prickle of her ice between his fingers. "Okay, I promise." [I'll definitely come back.]

Tsukiko's nose twitched, and she stared up into Jack's eyes for a moment before darting back into the warren. " _Sayonara!_ " Jack heard her squeak from somewhere inside the tunnel.

Jack rose to his feet and hopped to the top of the boulders. He turned the wooden staff anxiously in his hands, gazing up at the afternoon sky. " _Sayonara_ ," he said, and he leapt high into the air.


	5. Chapter 5

Returning home felt to Jack like stepping out of a dream. It took several tries practicing his jump high up in the winds of the atmosphere to find the right spot; try as he might, he kept getting buffeted by the air currents and thrown way off course, winding up in strange and unknown lands. Months passed, following the routes of rivers and familiar species of trees, until he finally found himself standing at the edge of his lake. It was the edge of autumn, and the trees around the lake were swollen with leaves. He looked around at each familiar trunk, the curve of each branch that he knew by heart. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He let it out, and as the breath traveled, it crashed from one tree to another, building up strength and speed. The leaves of the trees danced and sang like the roar of water as first one tree, then dozens, erupted into brilliant color. Shades of yellow, red, and brown lit up the air around him and flickered across the rippling surface of the lake as if the water had caught fire. Some of the leaves caught in the wind and swirled around him, brushing his face. His eyes flickered open just as the wind began to still and the trees calmed. In the distance he could still hear his breath, the first of winter, awakening the color in the trees. And for the first time in months, he felt at home.

* * *

Sprawled out along a tree branch, Jack watched a small group of deer below wander past. A little fawn broke away from the herd, prancing about on its gangly legs, tossing around fallen leaves. It ran towards the edge of the lake, splashing about in the half-frozen water at the edge. The mother doe watched the fawn play, grunting softly. The other does snuffled around the undergrowth, looking for fresh leaves in the decaying foliage.

Jack swung down from the tree with the crook of his staff, dropping soundlessly behind the deer. The fawn was lapping at the water. With a smirk and a twitch of the staff, Jack froze the water beneath the fawn's hooves. On the next lick, the fawn's tongue stuck to the ice. Bewildered, the fawn tried wrenching its tongue off of the ice, and began to bleat in alarm.

The mother doe bounded forward, her white tail flashing against her brown coat. Jack tapped the ground with his staff, and the doe's hooves skidded wildly for a moment before she came flying down onto the icy lake. She spun around her child, bellowing. Confused, the other does ran in every direction, crashing into one another.

Laughing, Jack ran forward, tapping the ice with his staff. The ice broke apart, and the fawn careened backwards, a chunk of ice still stuck to its tongue. The fawn dashed into the forest, legs flailing about, its bleating muffled by the ice in its mouth. Jack gave the mother doe a little push with a breath of winter wind, and she spun into the bank, climbing shakily to her feet before taking off after her child. Jack listened to the cacophony of grunts and bleats and rustling leaves as the deer put as much distance as possible between them and the lake.

"Hahaha! Tsukiko, did you see-?" he said, and stopped. With the deer gone, the forest had returned to its usual silence, broken only by the occasional whistle of wind through the bare branches.

Jack kicked at a pile of leaves, scattering them into the lake. He started to pace around the bank, dragging the end of his staff along the pebbles. Frost trailed in the staff's wake, curling across the surface of the lake, freezing the ripples in place.

A slow blur of white floated past Jack's vision, and he ground to a halt, eyes crossing slightly. A snowflake drifted down towards the lake, settling onto the new ice. Jack craned his head upwards to the overcast sky, and a grin tugged at his lips as more snowflakes spun down towards him.

Jack held out his arms, drawing the snowflakes towards him, watching them dance around in circles. His toes lifted from the ground, and he flew off, the snowflakes chasing after him. He darted in and out of the trees as more and more snowflakes joined him, creating a thin veil of snow in his wake stretching up to the clouds high above. Soon he was touching down on the dirt road of the town, the snowflakes cascading over the buildings like a soft wave.

Jack stood gazing down the main street, eyes searching for children to come play in the snow. Instead, he saw men turning up the collars on their coats and bowing their heads down. Women hurried out of the way, brushing snow from their dresses. Horses whinnied and tossed the snow out of their manes. Children ran inside to play by the fireside. The streets swiftly emptied as night fell. Jack found himself walking down the dark street alone, snow brushing his shoulders as he passed the warm, bright squares of windows.

Jack looked up, snowflakes peppering his cheeks and catching in his eyelashes. With no warmth on his skin, the flakes just held there. His face contorting in pain, he shook the flakes off, and he burst off the ground into the air.

He let instinct guide him, and he punched through layers of clouds without hesitation, soaring high up into the atmosphere. He knew now how to pick out the wind currents and where they might lead him. He hopped from one to another, heading towards the rising sun curving over the horizon. When he felt he might be close, he let himself drop, speeding towards a string of islands, to mountains, to forests filling up the view below him. He caught himself in the drafts of wind, using his staff to drift from one current to another, until he fluttered down through the canopies of trees to the forest floor.

Jack knew right away from the smell of the trees that he was back in Tsukiko's forest. He picked out the trails trampled flat by hares and followed them, winding through the trees, his staff brushing against the trunks and sending tendrils of ice up and down the bark.

Soon he emerged in a clearing flooded with morning light. In the middle of the clearing was a pile of boulders and rocks, and sitting at the top, ears perked and blue eyes twinkling in the light, was a white hare. Against the drab brown of the winter forest and the gray and black rock at her feet, Tsukiko's fur seemed to shine. Her head swiveled in his direction, and for a moment the two stared at one another from across the clearing, the forest silent around him.

There was a burst of white as the hare leapt from the boulders and streaked towards Jack. Before he could process what was happening, a ball of fur struck him squarely in the chest with enough force to send him hurtling backwards into the moss and brush. Just before he hit the ground he managed to freeze it, sending them skidding backwards to stop against the trunk of a tree.

The hare was sitting with all four paws on his chest, rubbing her cheeks against his waistcoat. Jack chuckled a weak, breathless laugh. "Hey, Tsukiko. I'm back," he said.

" _Okaeri!_ " the hare squeaked, her nose and whiskers twitching in an expression Jack had come to recognize as a smile. She sprung from his chest and began to bound around the clearing. [Let's play, let's play!] she chirped out in her native tongue.

Jack leapt to his feet, brushing the moss and ice from his clothes. "What, already? I just got here—"

" _Kakurenbo!_ " Tsukiko hollered as loud as she could, and before Jack could protest, she was streaking away into the forest to hide.

Rolling his eyes, Jack leapt to the top of the boulders to wait. He started rattling off the numbers he'd learned. [One, two, three...]

* * *

The sun was just starting to set by the time Jack and Tsukiko finally returned to the clearing in the woods. Their game of hide and seek had taken them from one corner of the forest to the other, from the highest tree to the lowest burrow in the ground. Tsukiko was particularly devious with her choices of hiding spots; the last spot Jack found her turned out to be the cave of a hibernating bear, not at all happy about being woken up early from its sleep. The two sat together laughing as they recalled each step of the game.

Eventually the laughter died down, and Tsukiko grew quiet. She had returned to her human form on the way back, and now she sat with her knees gathered to her chest, her small figure lost in the folds of her robes. Her brow furrowed and she gnawed at her lip as she gazed off into the darkening forest.

Jack tilted his head, trying to get a better look at her face. [What's wrong?] he said.

Tsukiko shook her head. [It's hard to say... you wouldn't understand,] she said.

"Try me."

She looked over at Jack and glanced away, tracing the edge of a rock with her finger. Tiny icicles prickled from her fingers along the surface of the stone. " _Shinpai shita._ " When Jack didn't say anything, she made an exaggerated gesture of wringing her hands and pointing to her head.

"Worried?" [About what?]

" _Ano..._ " Tsukiko's eyes fluttered back and forth from Jack's face to the ground. " _Jakku wa... modorenai ka to..._ " She mimed a person leaping back and forth with her fingers.

"You mean whether or not I'd come back?" Jack laughed. "Of course I came back! I promised, didn't I? Uh, what was it... _yakusoku_?"

Tsukiko chuckled. " _Un, yakusoku!_ "

Jack leaned back against the rocks with his arms behind his head. "So, what do you want to do next...? Not a lot of snow out here..."

Tsukiko looked around at the dark, bare earth. " _Eto... ah, souka!_ " She clambered to her feet and started to tug on Jack's arm.

For a moment Jack just let her pull at his arm. "Huh? What is it?"

Tsukiko frowned and pointed over above the trees. [Over there! Snow!] she said.

Jack kicked up his staff and leapt to his feet. [Snow? Where?]

She looked around the sky, and pointed off to the right of the setting sun. [There! But... it's far.] She furrowed her brow in thought, and her face broke into a large grin. She tugged at his arm once more. " _Tobe!_ " At the blank look on Jack's face, she groaned in frustration and started flapping her arms.

"Fly?"

" _Sou, sou! Tobe!_ " Tsukiko twirled on the spot and she transformed into her hare form, her robes scattering into little flurries of snow around them. She leapt up onto Jack's shoulders, kicking at him awkwardly as she tried to get a proper footing. She wrapped her front paws around his neck the best she could. [Let's go!] she squeaked.

Jack laughed at the tickle of her whiskers on the back of his neck. "Alright, but you better hold on tight!" Clutching the staff tightly in both hands, he crouched, reaching out from inside for the wind. He heard it first in the rattle of pine needles and bare branches in the forest, and then it burst towards them, swirling beneath his feet. He shot up into the air, and he heard Tsukiko give a surprised shriek behind his ears.

Soon they were gliding along, the forests rushing by below their feet. Mountains loomed ahead of them. Feeling that he might get some revenge for earlier, Jack flew as close to the mountains as he could, barely missing the boulders and cliff faces. Tsukiko squealed at the close calls but laughed all the way, until they finally cleared the mountains. Below them, Jack could start to see snowier areas in the last of the light. [Over there!] Tsukiko said, and Jack floated down to the edge of a snowy forest, a village not far from view. Jack landed perfectly on top of the snow, while Tsukiko tumbled off and plowed into it, leaving a hare-shaped hole in the snow pack.

Even in the dim evening light, Jack could see that the area was covered in a thick layer of snow, sloping over the valley like a carpet. In the distance he could just see the snow-burdened roofs of buildings. Jack reached down and pulled Tsukiko out by the scruff of her neck. "Come on, let's go look around!" he said, and he dropped her onto the snow and took off towards the town.

[Jack, wait!] Tsukiko cried, but he was long gone. She shook her head. " _Mattaku..._ " she sighed, and loped after him.

* * *

To the annoyance of the local villagers, Tsukiko and Jack spent days playing around in the snow. The winter landscape was constantly shifting as a result of their play; sometimes the snow drifts curved around into bizarre channels, sometimes into strange hills, and sometimes the snow was simply blasted up into the air and thrown about, blocking the network of carefully cleared roads in and out of town.

One day while playing on the outskirts of town, a couple of local boys noticed Tsukiko's hare form darting about, burrowing into the snow and running around as if chasing something invisible. The boys gathered what they could from the ground and snuck up on Tsukiko. The next thing she knew, a ball of snow rolled with mud and small stones struck her squarely in the side.

" _Yatta! Seikou!_ " the boys cheered.

Tsukiko tossed the snow and mud from her fur and looked over at the boys, eyes narrowing. Jack leapt over next to Tsukiko.

[Are you okay?] Jack said, bending to look down at Tsukiko.

[I'm fine!] Tsukiko whispered up at him, without taking her eyes off the boys. The two boys had started gathering up more snowballs and were lobbing them towards her. A few fell wide of their mark, but some came dangerously close to a hit, only to explode apart before they reached her. Confused and annoyed, the boys began running up to Tsukiko, shouting and waving their arms.

Alarmed, Jack reached down to grab Tsukiko. [Tsukiko, let's go!] he said, but Tsukiko shook him off and leapt forward.

The boys started to sense something was wrong as they got closer and closer and the hare did not budge. Jack watched in fascination as the snow in front of Tsukiko rumbled, and then shot up into spikes. The boys shrieked and scrambled to turn around, but their feet were caught in the snow. To Jack's horror, a couple of the spikes shot out towards the children and struck them in the chest. He almost cried out, but the spikes disintegrated on impact, and the children froze. For a minute, they did not move, as their faces slackened and their eyes became unfocused.

[What did you do?] Jack said, stepping closer to Tsukiko.

[Just watch,] Tsukiko replied, sitting up and shaking out the tension in her muscles.

Jack watched as the boys slowly stirred back into motion. For a moment their heads swiveled about in confusion, and then their faces cracked into unnatural grins that didn't reach their eyes. They turned on the spot and began to lope back the way they had come, shrieking and laughing, until they disappeared from view.

Jack slumped down onto the snow, stunned. Tsukiko turned to look at him, her nose twitching. [Were you scared?] she chuckled.

Jack frowned. [It's not funny! What was that?]

Tsukiko rubbed at her face with her paw. " _Eto... mahou mitai darou_?" she said.

"' _Mahou_ '?" Jack repeated.

Tsukiko shook her head. [This is boring... let's go play!]

[But-] Jack flinched as Tsukiko kicked snow up into his face and darted away.

* * *

Jack continued to pester Tsukiko about her mysterious power for days. At first Tsukiko would just dart away whenever he brought it up, or he would find himself with a face full of icicles. Eventually Tsukiko conceded that Jack was not about to let the matter rest, but whatever her power was, it proved too difficult to explain with what little he understood of her language.

Tsukiko dipped her hand into the snow and brought it back up, her hand encapsulated like a mitt. She made a show of drawing in the snow covering her hand, and held it out to Jack. It looked like a ghoul with a crooked face and two crooked, nubby arms where her thumb and pinky fingers stuck through.

Jack suppressed a laugh. "Uh... a puppet?" he guessed, the sides of his mouth twitching.

Tsukiko made the hand puppet swagger around, then summoned a small icicle in her free hand. The icicle seemed to glow a pale blue just before she jabbed it into the puppet. The puppet shuddered, and she replaced its grimace with a wide smile. She made the puppet dance around. She looked up at Jack expectantly, but his expression was blank. She sighed and tossed the snow puppet aside, and grabbed Jack's left hand with both of hers. He jolted in surprise, but didn't pull away as she brought his hand up. Brows furrowing in concentration, she held his hand with her right and hovered over it with her left, until a faint glow grew beneath the surface of her palm. Jack watched in mute fascination as the glow extended from her palm to his, and tiny icicles began to form in the middle. The icicles jutted out randomly, tickling the surface of his palm. He felt a vague sense of ease enter him, and he had to blink and shake his head to keep his concentration. The icicles were bending into a spherical shape, and as Tsukiko pulled her hand away, it settled into his palm as a seemingly ordinary snowball. He clasped it with both hands, and it glowed between his fingers. Holding it, he could feel again a bit of the calm like a slight warmth on his skin. He chuckled, momentarily exhilarated by this strange magic, and the snowball glowed brighter, mirroring the prickle of energy back at him.

"I think I get it..." Jack said slowly, turning the snowball over in his hands. "You use this to talk to people, right? It holds your emotions." Tsukiko tilted her head, not sure what Jack was saying, but smiled a bit to show that she hoped he understood. "But it's more than that... you can make people feel what you want them to? Like those two boys?"

Tsukiko shrugged. She patted her chest and held out her hand, the glowing icicle forming in her palm once more. " _Kimochi._ " She put on an exaggerated smile. " _Ii_ _kimochi, ka..._ " Her brow furrowed in intense anger, lips pouting upwards, and she crushed the icicle in her fingers. " _... warui kimochi._ "

Jack frowned. "So you can put bad feelings into it, too?" He looked down at the snowball, his doubt causing the surface to prickle and dim. He tossed the snowball aside. [Don't worry, I'll be careful,] he said.

Tsukiko eyed Jack warily. [Okay, so can we play now?] she said.

[Yeah, of course!]

Tsukiko's face split into a grin, and she hopped on the spot. She danced forward and pushed Jack hard on the shoulder. [Tag, you're it!] she squealed, and raced away.

"Why am I always it?" Jack groaned, but he tore after her. The snowball shimmered brightly, then vanished into the snow.


	6. Chapter 6

Jack held out his hand, brow furrowing slightly as he gazed at his palm. A small flash dimmed to a subtle blue light, and tendrils of ice like floss wove out of the light. The threads twisted and knotted to form the shape of a single snowflake. Jack's gave a small laugh as the snowflake turned above his palm, giving off little sparks of energy when it brushed his fingers.

On the boulevard below him, the town of Burgess was bustling with its usual noonday crowds. Shifting his weight on the edge of the roof, Jack tossed his hand, watching the snowflake flutter down. Now Jack had to concentrate on getting the snowflake to its destination; small puffs of air batted the snowflake about, weaving in and out of trotting horses, running children, and strolling gentlemen. Just as it was about to reach its target, a woman stumbled out of the way of a horse, and the snowflake disintegrated on her dress with the tiniest poof.

With a slight grimace, Jack stuck out his hand again. This time, two glowing snowflakes formed in his palm, and he tossed them out. The snowflakes raced down into the crowd, ducking and weaving. One got caught in the path of a boy chasing after his friends, hitting him squarely on the back of the head; the boy keeled over laughing. The other continued to dart through the crowd. "Come on... come on..." Jack muttered under his breath. Just feet away from the target, Jack gave the snowflake one last push of air, and it rocketed upwards. It burst on impact with an elderly gentleman's nose, showering his face with sparks.

Jack waited with baited breath as the man blinked away the sparks. The hard-edged lines of the man's craggy face began to soften, and the scowl lifted. With a whoop, the man began to dance into the street. Passersby stopped to stare as the man burst into song, and began to knock the hats off the heads of other gentlemen.

Jack fell on his side laughing. When he could finally catch his breath again, he summoned as many snowflakes as he could, and swatted them into the air with a swing of his staff. The snowflakes darted out in every direction, and soon the whole street was filled with singing and dancing. Jack jumped down onto the street, laughing and dancing around them.

The elderly man grabbed a woman by the hand and they started to wheel around the street. The woman swung towards Jack, passing right through him in a bluish haze.

Jack stumbled out of the way, the turns of his smile drooping. He jumped back to the top of the building, gazing down at the jubilant crowd below him. Slowly the excitement began to fade, and the people returned to their business, smiling and chattering at one another. With a sigh, Jack turned away.

* * *

Jack made the long jump back to the snowy valley as soon as he could that winter. It took some searching, but he finally found Tsukiko wandering the forests near the mountains, her robes trailing along the dead leaves and pine needles littering the ground. She was gazing about the trees, unfocused. Dancing around in her wake were two small points of blue light; the lights hopped around, sometimes streaking like blue flame, sometimes dripping and bouncing like water. As he approached, Tsukiko's gaze fell on him, and the lights vanished like puffs of smoke.

" _Jakku!_ " Tsukiko cried, and threw her arms around his shoulders. [Welcome back!]

Jack whirled around, trying to keep his balance. [Good to be back!] he said. He wiggled out of her embrace, but held onto her arm. [Come on, I gotta show you something... hang on!]

[What is— _kyaa!_ ] Tsukiko screeched as wind swirled around the two of them and they shot off through the forest, Tsukiko dangling from his grip like a fish on a line. They dodged through the trees at breakneck speed, the winter landscape blurring by in a haze of brown and white. As the trees grew further apart, Jack and Tsukiko sunk closer to the ground, and a path of ice shot ahead of them. Their feet glided along the ice, the wind pushing at their backs. Tsukiko gave an exhilarated scream and Jack turned his back on the path, smiling as he held onto her hand.

Soon they were skating out of the forest and into the valley. Snow-covered fields rushed by. Jack held on tight to Tsukiko's hand as they spun to a stop just on the outskirts of a village. Tsukiko sunk to her knees, giggling. [Stupid! You're such an idiot!] she wheezed, tossing a ball of ice in his direction.

Jack deflected the ice, chuckling. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted movement, and he turned. A group of children were playing a game around the back of a house. As Jack watched, one of the children stumbled into another, and the group erupted in bickering.

Tsukiko stopped laughing and scrambled to her feet, eyeing the group of children nervously. [Jack, why are we—]

[Just watch me!] Jack said. Grinning from ear to ear, he snuck closer to the children. Tsukiko hung back, watching in confusion as Jack stuck out his free hand with a flourish. A small, glowing snowflake began to emerge above his palm. He watched the snowflake for a moment, twirling it between his fingers. As the snowflake weaved, it began to split apart, one for each child. He tossed his hand and the wind caught the snowflakes, twisting through the air as one by one, each hit its mark squarely on the nose. The children all froze in the middle of their argument, looking mildly confused for a moment. Jack watched eagerly as first one, then another, then the whole group burst into laughter and ran towards the snow pack behind the house. They scooped up snowballs and soon a fierce battle raged.

Jack gave a triumphant whoop, jumping forward to join in the battle. So much snow was flying through the air that the extra ammunition from Jack was hardly noticed. In the rush of his magic, Jack almost forgot where he was and why he was there, until the snow began to rumble around him.

The children all stopped, perplexed, as the snow turned to solid ice beneath them. A few of the children with their feet in the snow were immediately trapped, and cried out in alarm. The ice spread out and began to deform, shooting up spikes, barely avoiding the children. The children screamed, and the few able to run scrambled to get out of the way, the ice chasing after them. Jack hurried forward to free the children caught in the ice. He slammed his staff against the ice, transforming it back into a soft powder so the children could rip their feet free. The remaining children dashed for the village and were soon out of sight. Jack slumped to the ice, confused. As the spikes sunk back into the snow and the ice disappeared, he noticed a ringing laughter, and turned to see Tsukiko approaching.

[That was so cool!] Tsukiko squealed. [Did you see their faces? So funny!]

Jack frowned. "Tsukiko, why'd you do that?! You could have hurt them!"

Tsukiko stopped, folding her arms. [You're mad?]

Clutching onto his staff for support, Jack pulled himself to his feet. [Yeah, I'm mad! They were scared!]

Tsukiko looked away, nose wrinkling. [They were fine. I was just playing.]

[You can't play with children like that,] Jack said, his voice stern.

[Why not?]

[Because it's mean!]

[ _They're_ mean!] Tsukiko screeched, swinging her arms. Snow burst around her, and Jack instinctively took a step back. [They're horrible! Didn't you see them? Didn't you see them fighting?]

Jack held up a hand. [I did, but you still can't...]

[Why are you mad at me?] Tsukiko cried, wringing her hands. [I thought we were friends!]

[We are...]

Tears began to streak down Tsukiko's white cheeks. [Do you hate me now?]

Jack stepped forward, throwing an arm around her. [No, I... I don't hate you.]

Tsukiko buried her face in Jack's shoulder. [I don't understand,] Tsukiko sobbed, voice muffled. [They're just humans... I don't understand...]

Jack stared down at the top of her hand, glancing away to take in the shattered ice around them.

* * *

" _Yuki._ "

[Umm...] Jack looked around, turning his staff back and forth in his hand. His eyes darted to Tsukiko, who was watching him with a wide grin on her face.

[Time's running out!]

[Gimme a second!]

[Five... four... three...]

" _Kibun!_ " The moment the word left his mouth, Jack winced.

[ _Hah!_ You lose again!]

Jack sighed. [This game is hard...]

[No it's not, you're just dumb.] There was a rattling noise and the clatter of hooves, and Tsukiko jumped, scrambling to peer over the top of the bridge they were playing next to. [Oh, here comes another one!] she said, as a small caravan of people approached the bridge.

Jack stood next to Tsukiko, watching the caravan draw closer. [Come on, let's keep playing,] he said, turning away from the bridge. [I'll start this time.] " _Uma._ " Jack waited for a response, but Tsukiko had her eyes fixed on the caravan.

" _Mahou_ ," she said at length. The caravan had started to cross the bridge.

" _Uso._ " Jack glanced back at Tsukiko. She had her hands clutched onto the wood planks of the bridge. Small spikes of ice were forming around her fingers.

" _Sousou!_ " As soon as the caravan reached the middle of the bridge, ice shot across the planks, encasing the surface. Chaos erupted. The people who had been following the horse and cart slipped and slid across the bridge. One man skidded across and fell through the side of the railing into the shallow, freezing riverbed. The horse screamed as its hooves danced on the ice, slipping out to the side and bringing the horse down hard on a man who had tried to steady it. The cart continued forward, hitting the horse before veering off. The cart upturned, scattering firewood and supplies in every direction, becoming dangerous projectiles to the few people still on the bridge.

Seconds stretched as Jack watched the accident unfold. He turned to stare at Tsukiko in shock, but she was already running towards the other side of the bridge, laughing. Jack ran after her, turning around the bridge just in time to see Tsukiko starting to freeze the top of the water, trapping a struggling man underneath.

[Tsukiko, no!] Jack yelled. Tsukiko turned to look at him in confusion, and the pause was just long enough for Jack to push her aside and break the surface of the ice with his staff. The man burst through the fragments of ice, gasping, and ran as fast as he could from the water.

Tsukiko watched the man go with a scowl on her face. [You let him get away!]

Jack stared at her, face drawn. [I think we need to talk.]

She folded her arms, watching the men on the bridge struggle to right the injured horse and cart. [About what?]

Jack waved his hands at the bridge. [About this! Or that old lady yesterday! Or those kids last week!]

Tsukiko swiveled on the spot and began to stomp away down the bank of the river. [So?]

Jack stormed after her. [So you can't hurt people! That guy in the river, you almost killed him!]

[I was just playing!] she snapped back.

[No, you weren't!]

Tsukiko stopped, and Jack almost slammed into her. Tsukiko turned to glare up into Jack's eyes. [Why do you care, anyway? You're not one of them. They can't even see you.]

Jack stared down at her, working his jaw.

Tsukiko tossed the hair from her shoulders. [Humans are mean to each other all the time. They hurt and kill each other. They'd probably kill you too if they could see you. Why would you protect them?]

Jack slowly looked away, clutching his staff. "It's just... not right," he said.

Tsukiko glared at him, but he was gazing back at the bridge. She blinked away tears. [Fine! If you like them so much, you can just be friends with humans instead! You don't need me!]

Jack's turned back to her in alarm, but she was already streaking across the river in her hare form, little islands of ice appearing beneath her feet as she ran. [Tsukiko, wait!] he cried, and flew after her. He caught a flash of white disappearing into the tree line, and he burst into the forest, dodging trees. As he darted from one tree to another, searching, the ground sloped upward, the trees grew closer together, and the light dimmed. Before he knew it, he was deep in the heart of the forest.

Jack's feet sunk to the ground in the middle of a small clearing. He looked around, panting, but all he could see were the washed out blacks and browns of the trees around him. Through the gaps in the canopy above his head, he could just barely make out an overcast sky. "Tsukiko!" he yelled. The air around him was so heavy that the sound died before it even reached past the trees. " _Tsukiko!_ " In the distance he could just barely make out the squawk of birds, and then silence. Jack sunk to his knees, the staff at his side.

He stared down at the mossy earth around him, as the dim light faded. When it was too dark to make out the difference between the moss and earth anymore, his head eased upward. In the distance, a small, bright light flashed between the trees.

"Tsukiko...?" Jack whispered. He clutched onto the staff with one hand, straining to see in the darkness. There was a moment of utter silence where Jack could hear the breath stream in and out of his nostrils, and then a dazzling blue light erupted inches from his face.

" _Aaah!_ " he screamed, shielding his eyes. A heavy weight struck him across the chest, so hard that he was tossed several feet through the air, landing at the foot of an old tree. The breath burst out of his lungs and lights popped in front of his eyes. Before he could even think to get up, something rolled him onto his back and an enormous pressure sunk onto his chest. Jack yelped in pain as his eyes squeezed open.

Staring down at him like enormous, glowing orbs, were two eyes. The slatted pupils were inky lines in gold irises. The eyes were framed by a sea of dark fur, delicately etched with stripes and spots. Warm, wet breath hissed out of a muzzle and settled heavily onto Jack's face. The stench of smoke and rotten eggs prickled his nose.

[Little mouse,] a deep voice rumbled. [What are you doing here, all alone?]

[N-nothing!] Jack stammered out.

[Liesss _,_ ] the voice hissed. Claws like curved knives pierced Jack's skin, just enough to make him cry out in pain. The muzzle drew closer, and dozens of whiskers the length of his torso brushed his face. [You reek of ice and death. Tell me, where is she? Where's that _kijo_?]

[I... I don't know.]

[More lies. You think I can't smell her stench on you? The stench of blood.]

[I have no idea what you're talking about... honest...]

The creature gave an irritated sigh, blasting Jack's face with hot air. It leaned away from him, and in the dim light, Jack got the first glimpse of his attacker.

It was a cat, but one unlike any he'd seen. It was larger than a horse, and its face had a wild, feral look. Its fur reminded Jack of the sheen of oil on dark water, throwing a slightly different color and pattern depending on how the light hit it. Behind it swung two long tails. The tails lashed back and forth, and as they struck the ground, the fur at the end erupted in bursts of blue flame.

Jack craned his head, and could just make out his staff, lying across the clearing. Without the staff, Jack was powerless beneath the cat's paw. The cat's gold eyes were darting around the clearing, ears pricked, searching.

[She'll definitely come,] the creature rumbled. [You must be precious to her, if she has not killed you yet.]

[Tsukiko would never kill anyone!] Jack said.

The cat chuckled, flexing its paws. [You and I both know that is not true, little mouse.] The cat leaned its weight off of Jack's chest, and Jack felt cool air seep back into his lungs. Jack watched as the cat turned to inspect the tree line. [You've seen it, haven't you? Her pets? Her little balls of flame?]

A flash of Tsukiko walking through the forest, trailed by two blue flames, passed through Jack's mind. He shook it out.

[Winter, and death. The two cannot be apart. I can hear their cries. The cries of the dead. She must be close,] the cat snarled.

Jack slowly pulled himself into a crouch. He could still see the staff on the other side of the clearing. While the cat was distracted, Jack ran as fast as he could towards it, ducking under the creature's furry belly. Jack heard the cat give a yowl of alarm as he rolled over the staff, clutching it to his chest. The cat lunged at him, and he swung the staff, blasting the cat in the face with a spray of ice. The cat screeched, pawing at its face. Jack held his staff at the ready, but he could feel his hands shaking as the cat shook the ice from its face and locked Jack in its sights.

The cat chuckled. [They say "a cornered rat will bite a cat", don't they?] The creature stepped towards Jack, tails lashing. Jack stepped back, eyes wide. The cat eyed the staff in Jack's hands. [So you have ice as well? Interesting. Which do you suppose is stronger, your ice or my fire?] The cat's tails struck the ground, and blue fire sparked and blazed from the ends of the cat's fur, searing Jack with heat. [Burn!] the cat screeched, and charged towards Jack.

Before Jack could react, there was flash in the corner of his vision, and the cat was thrown from its feet. It hit the ground with a thud that made the earth rumble. The cat growled in pain. Two enormous spears of ice stuck out of its side like quills. The cat's eyes locked onto the other side of the clearing, and its hackles raised. [You!] it screamed.

Out of the forest stepped Tsukiko in her human form. Her white robes seemed to glow in the dark clearing. Hatred was etched in the lines of her face as she glared at the cat. [Good evening, _sensei_ ,] she said.

The cat rose shakily to its feet, ripping the ice from its side with its teeth. Black blood splattered the dirt. [What are you doing so far south, little hare?] the cat purred.

[I could ask you the same.] Tsukiko's eyes darted to Jack, who was watching the encounter unfold with a mixture of curiosity and fear. [Sight-seeing?]

The cat's eyes narrowed. [The humans drove me out.]

Tsukiko edged sideways towards Jack. [Is that so? I guess they got tired of your yowling, _Neko-chan._ ]

The cat snarled. It turned to keep Tsukiko in front of it. [I'll return, and when I do, I'll devour them all!]

[And how are you going to do that?] Tsukiko had reached Jack. She glanced back at him, and he shot her a confused, desperate look.

The cat flexed its paws and licked its chops. [I'll start with you and the little mouse. Once I have your power, all humans will fear me! Even the dead will tremble!]

[Tremble with laughter,] Tsukiko said, smirking.

The cat roared and leapt towards Tsukiko and Jack, fur blazing with blue fire. Before it could reach them, Tsukiko flexed her hands, and spikes of ice shot from the ground. The cat dodged and jumped back. It swung its tails and fire engulfed the spikes, incinerating them. Jack ducked as the tails just missed the top of his head.

Tsukiko narrowed her eyes, and more spikes burst from the ground. The cat danced around the clearing, trying to avoid them. Engulfed in flame, it swiped its claws at the spikes and spat fire. The melting ice only created a larger pool of water to freeze and create more spikes. A few hit their mark, steaming through the fire before embedding themselves in the creature's fur. Enraged, the cat thrashed and flung its body against the trees, but the ice only splintered and sank in further. A few of the trees caught fire, and Jack squinted as the clearing blazed with blue light, now choked with a field of ice taller than his head.

The cat screamed with pain and fury. Though it beat itself against the ground and trees, the fire in its fur was being suffocated by a growing spread of ice. In a last desperate bid, the cat charged through the spikes, straight for Tsukiko and Jack.

Jack stepped forward and swung his staff as hard as he could. A burst of wind hit the charging cat with such force that it was swept off its feet and spun backwards. Spikes of ice ripped through the cat as it landed sideways. It sagged against the ice, and the last of the fire dissipated from its fur. Ice continued to grow around it, encasing the creature. Silence engulfed the clearing, punctuated with the crackle of fire in the trees.

Tsukiko stepped forward and spread her arms. Ice raced from the clearing to the trees, wrapping around the branches and snuffing out the fire. The clearing fell into darkness, leaving only the dim light of the stars and moon to glisten on the ice.

Jack sank to his knees, staring at the body of the cat in the ice. Tsukiko turned and rushed towards him. [Jack? Are you okay? Are you hurt?] she said, inspecting him. Her fingers brushed the small holes in his shirt, and a few singed hairs on the top of his head.

Jack brushed her aside, and rose shakily to his feet. [I'm fine... I'm not hurt.]

Tsukiko sighed with relief. She jumped and threw her arms around him. [I'm so sorry! I never should have left you alone! You could have died!] she wailed.

[Yeah, I... I guess I've never had to fight before,] Jack chuckled weakly. [I mean, nothing's ever tried to kill me.]

Tsukiko eased her grip. [That's what I was trying to tell you, Jack! It's dangerous! Humans, monsters – they're all dangerous! You'll get hurt!]

Jack patted the top of Tsukiko's head. [Maybe, but I've got you to help me, right?]

Tsukiko sniffed and nodded.

[So we're friends, right?]

[Right!] Tsukiko took Jack's hand and began to lead him back into the forest. [Come on, let's go back!]

Jack let himself be led away from the moonlight clearing. He glanced over his shoulder at the dark shape encased in ice, before the trees shifted the clearing out of view, and the two retreated into the darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

Jack walked along the bank of the thawing stream, his bare feet occasionally catching on a pebble and sending it skittering into the water. His eyes strained through the twilight around him, catching on the subtle glow of Tsukiko's white fur. She was just ahead of him on the water, jumping from one chunk of ice to another in her hare form. All the while, she kept up a constant stream of chatter.

[... and he offered me a sip of _sake_ ,] she squeaked over her shoulder, [but I said 'no thanks'...]

[Uh-huh,] Jack said, gazing out away from the stream, towards the forest on the other side.

[... and I tried to just walk away, but he was so pushy, you know...]

[Yeah-] Out of the corner of Jack's eye, he saw a light flash. Jack's head whirled around, eyes wide, as he searched for the source. His knuckles were almost white as they gripped his staff.

[... and maybe I got a bit rough with him, but he just wasn't taking no for an answer...]

The glow of a torch flickered from the road on the hill above them. The torch bobbed in and out of view above the grass. Distantly, Jack could hear the low hum of voices – human voices. Jack eased his grip on the staff a bit.

[... and when he ran off, I took a look at the _sake_ , and it was actually deer pee! Like I said, you can't trust a _tanuki_ ,] Tsukiko said, chittering with laughter. She paused, ears twitching. [Jack, are you even listening?]

Jack tore his eyes away from the torch. [Huh? Yeah, of course... really funny...] He gave a weak laugh to illustrate.

Tsukiko's nose crinkled in annoyance. The voices on the road above began to drift down towards the stream, and her head snapped upwards, watching the bob of the torch. Her eyes narrowed to blue slits.

Jack hurried forward. [Go on, keep going! I want to hear more,] he said.

Tsukiko's eyes darted down to Jack. [No, you don't.]

[Of course I do!] Jack tried to give an encouraging smile, but half of his mouth didn't seem to want to cooperate. He was vaguely aware of his hands shaking.

Tsukiko jumped off the ice and onto the bank, shaking a few stray droplets of water from her fur. [You know, you've been acting really weird lately,] she said.

['Weird'? Weird how? I'm not being weird.] As he talked, Jack slowly stepped around Tsukiko's side, inserting himself between Tsukiko and the humans on the road above.

Tsukiko turned to keep an eye on him, rising up on her haunches. [You are too! You've been strange ever since you met that _nekomata_. What is it?]

Jack waved his hand. [It's nothing, really!]

[You're such a liar!] Tsukiko took in the slight tremor in Jack's hands. Her eyes drifted to the faint glow of the torch and the fading voices. [Are you scared? Is that it?] Her whiskers twitched. [Are you scared of the humans?]

[No, that's not-]

Tsukiko shook her head. [I told you I'd protect you, didn't I?]

[Yeah, but-]

Tsukiko sighed. [If you're that worried, I know somewhere else we could go...]

* * *

Jack sat atop a small hill, rocking back and forth with his legs crossed. Just below him in the side of the hill was a small hole. Every so often, a tuft of dirt would fly out and tumble down the hill.

[Are you done yet?] Jack said, leaning forward to gaze down into the hole.

[Just a bit more!] Tsukiko's squeaked from inside.

Jack leaned back, craning his neck up to the sky. Bare branches from the tree behind him crisscrossed his view, their leaves just beginning to bud. He watched the tiny, dark form of a hawk wheel around the sky high above the branches. Jack scooted closer to the edge of the hill, his fingers brushing the staff on the ground next to him.

Tsukiko popped out of the hole onto the fresh earth, her fur speckled with dirt. She shook herself from head to toe and turned to face Jack. [All done!] she said.

Jack tore his gaze away from the hawk to give Tsukiko a weak smile. [The winter here up north is so long; I didn't think spring would ever come.]

Tsukiko's ears drooped. [What are you going to do? Are you going home?]

[I guess so... but, I'll be here when you wake up. How's that sound?]

Tsukiko's whiskers twitched. [Okay!] She hopped up next to Jack and placed a paw on his knee. " _Dewa, itterasshai!_ "

Jack reached out and patted Tsukiko gently on the head. " _Ittekimasu._ "

Tsukiko leaned into Jack's hand for a moment, then shook him off, sliding down the hill. Jack rose to his feet, his staff in his hands. Tsukiko turned to look back at Jack, flicking her ears. Jack gave a little wave, and she dove into her warren.

Jack looked out towards the horizon. The hill backed up to a small forest, and had an expansive view of rolling fields. In the distance, Jack could see the faded forms of mountains. There were no buildings, no people, for miles around. In the few months since they'd arrived, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of any monsters, either.

He glanced up, but the hawk must have moved on. He looked down to the staff in his hands, testing its weight, twirling it around. He took a few practice swings through the air, then took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay... time to get started," he muttered.

* * *

A spectral fox tiptoed through the undergrowth of the woods, flitting from one shrub to another. Its translucent blue form glittered in the dappled summer sunlight, filtering down through the lush canopy above. The fox glanced briefly up at a bug clinging to the trunk of a tree, buzzing its ear-splitting song to join a chorus of its fellows. Moving on, the fox sunk lower to the ground, creeping towards the edge of the woods. It paused, scanning the clearing. Shifting its haunches, it leapt out into the clearing.

There was a blur of movement, and the fox exploded into a cloud of snow, melting away before it even managed to reach the warm dirt. Jack stepped away from the tree, twirling the staff around in his hand.

"That's three down," he said with a smirk. "Two to go."

Jack's eyes scanned the hill around him, searching for the familiar blue aura of his snow targets. His gaze caught on a small boulder, where a spectral boar was attempting to conceal its massive girth.

Jack whipped the staff around and swung it towards the ground. A gust of wind rushed towards the rock, slicing around it and kicking the boar high up into the air. He jabbed at the air with the staff, and ice like a bolt of lighting shot out and hit the boar on the side, scattering chunks of snow onto the burning rock.

Jack hopped on the spot. "One more," he said eagerly, twisting around. He looked around, but the only blue he could see was the brilliant blue of the sky. He crept closer to the woods, ducking to check under the shrubs and peer around the tree trunks. "Come on... where are you, you little—"

There was a sharp nip on Jack's ear, and he stumbled backwards. His hand flew to his neck, and he ripped his arm back out. In his hand squirmed the spectral form of a tiny mouse, already turning to thick snow. "There you are!" he chuckled. He tossed the mouse – now just a ball of snow – up into the air, and swung at it with his staff. The snowball hit a tree trunk with a satisfying _pamph_ , just as the nose of a creature – a real, solid one – poked around the edge.

Jack burst off the ground in a panic, landing in one of the upper branches of the tree. He crouched on his toes, peering down through the branches at the ground below.

The nose was attached to a wolf, and the wolf was attached to a small pack, picking their way out of the tree line. They were pawing and sniffing at the ground, turning over branches and grass. Jack watched them sniff their way closer to Tsukiko's burrow. His grip tightened on the staff. The wolves were passing beneath him, ears pricked and eyes roving from side to side. One of the wolves, a small one tagging at the rear of the group, brushed its nose close to the burrow. The other wolves stopped as the small wolf gave a little yip and began to paw at the hole.

With its attention fixed on the burrow and the promise of hare meat, the small wolf was oblivious to what dropped in front of it until a gust of icy wind and a heavy wooden staff struck it across the cheek. The wolf was thrown off its feet into a neighboring tree, yelping with pain and surprise. It took off as fast as it could, paws spraying dirt behind it. This left five wolves staring at the spot where Jack stood, the triumphant smirk slowly dropping from his face.

At first the wolves held back. The circle closed as they inched forward, each wolf dancing backwards a little at a gust of wind or a prickle of ice beneath its paw, then stepping forward a little when Jack's back was turned. Unable to keep his eye on everything around him at once, Jack didn't notice the wolf leaping in towards him until its teeth latched onto his ankle.

Jack whirled around, bringing the butt of his staff down hard on the wolf's head. Ice burst on impact like a miniature explosion, and the wolf yelped, releasing Jack. The world around him erupted into snarls and the whirl of gray fur as the wolves charged.

It was nothing like practicing against a stationary tree trunk or a snow dummy. These animals were not mindless objects. They were a pack, used to hunting much larger and more powerful game, familiar with exploiting weaknesses and coordinating attacks. Jack's powers were of little advantage if he had no time to use them; the wolves made sure of it. Swinging and jabbing the staff was all Jack could do to throw the wolves off. It wasn't enough. One of the wolves grabbed the crook of the staff, engaging Jack in a fierce tug-of-war. Another snuck up behind and, with an enormous leap, wrapped its jaws around the back of Jack's neck.

The wolf brought Jack brought crashing to the dirt. There was a chorus of triumphant yips as the wolves surged forward to claim their victory. Jack clenched his eyes shut.

The pain he was waiting for didn't come. Light burst behind his eyelids, and the air filled with yelps and howls. Jack's eyes flittered open to see ice like lightning sparking around him, striking the wolves and exploding into brilliant showers of frost. The wolves scrambled to escape, the ice snapping and chasing after them. He sat up and watched as the wolves ran towards the forest, disappearing into the trees as the ice shattered on tree trunks and scattered across the ground.

The droning of bugs, the scent of warm dirt, the cool breeze on his face, all returned to his senses in a rush. A prickling sensation emerged through the pounding in his ears, and Jack looked down to see the last of the ice retreat with a blue glow from the tips of his fingers into the knotted wood of his staff, still clutched in his hand.

He stared down at the staff in disbelief. His mouth slowly quirked into a lopsided smile, and with a victorious whoop, he jumped to his feet. The wind spun around him, scattering dirt and blades of grass. He took off, flying around the hills and over the trees, laughing.

Later he touched back down on top of the mound of Tsukiko's burrow, and inspected the purple bruises on his neck and ankle, and the rips and tears in his clothing. He set the staff across his knees and leaned back with a sigh. "Don't worry, Tsukiko," Jack murmured, gazing up at the sky. "I can protect myself now."

* * *

[What happened?!]

Tsukiko stood in front of Jack in her human form, eyes wide, as she took in the tatters of his clothing. The first snow of winter was falling in sparse, tiny flakes, catching in her hair.

Jack inched away from her outstretched hands. [It's nothing, just had another messy landing when I got back,] he said.

Tsukiko shot him a narrow-eyed look, the two dots of her eyebrows creasing down her forehead. [Really, you're so clumsy!] She tossed her head to the south, nose crinkling and bottom lip turned up into a pout. [Well, I guess it can't be helped. We'd better find you some new clothes.]

Jack held up a hand. [That's okay, we don't have to—] But Tsukiko was already turning on the spot, snow scattering in every direction as she transformed back into a hare and jumped onto his shoulders.

[What a pain,] Tsukiko chirped, clutching onto his cloak. [But if I left it up to you, you'd probably end up naked.]

Jack glanced back at her with a mischievous grin. [What's wrong with that? No one can see me, anyway.]

Tsukiko's blue eyes grew as round as saucers. [I can see you, dummy! Now fly already!] she squeaked, kicking the back of his head.

Jack burst off the ground, heading south, back towards the bustling towns in the distance.

* * *

Jack turned the corner of the alley, spreading his arms wide. [So? What do you think?] he said.

Tsukiko's pigtails tossed around her face as she turned to take in Jack's new outfit. It was a mish-mash of pilfered parts: a dark traveler's cloak, a blue robe, heavy cloth pants, and sturdy brown leather arm and shin guards. Her gaze fell to his waist and she gulped down a laugh. [You tied your _obi_ wrong,] she snickered, jumping off a barrel and walking up to him. Jack leaned back a bit as she grabbed the black belt, loosening the flimsy knot he'd tied and retying it. [There! Now it's perfect,] she said, turning the tie around to his back.

Jack shuffled away as soon as her fingertips left the belt. He looked down, inspecting the folds of his sleeves. [Feels kind of weird, but now I look just like one of you guys, don't you think?] he said with a grin.

Tsukiko's tried to return the smile. [Right... like us...]

There was a loud scream from down the alley. Jack turned towards the sound, face falling. [What was that?]

Tsukiko's brow knitted as she stared off down the alley. She grabbed Jack's arm and began to tug him in the opposite direction. [It's none of our business, let's just go,] she said, but Jack just shrugged her off and bolted. [Jack, wait!]

Jack ran around a corner and skidded to a halt at the opening of a small back alley. A couple of boys were standing over a tiny girl, tugging on her hair and laughing. The girl, younger and much smaller than the boys, wailed pitifully as she tried to break away from them.

Tsukiko stopped next to Jack, glancing briefly at the scene before turning to him. [Jack, just leave them alone!] she said, tugging on the collar of his cloak.

[I can help!] he snapped back, dropping to his knees on the dirt. He began to trace dark outlines in the thin snow dusted across the ground.

[No, you can't! You can't even protect yourself!] Tsukiko retorted. [Now come on!]

Jack ignored her, finishing his drawing in the dirt. He slapped his hand on the ground and light burst from between his fingers, tendrils of frost shooting into the air. He pulled his hand away, and spectral shapes began to emerge from the drawings: the icy shapes of two wolves, their eyes sparkling with frost, their teeth glittering in the waning afternoon light.

The boys had paused at the flash of light, and they took in the ghostly figures of the wolves with growing horror. The wolves stepped soundlessly forward, and the boys stepped backwards, releasing the girl. She fell to the ground and pulled herself to the wall, her wide eyes fixed on the wolves. Her arms flew over her head as the wolves charged straight for the boys. The boys scrambled over themselves to escape, their shrill cries echoing down the alley as they ran out of sight. The wolves crumbled into powder, disappearing into the snow.

Tsukiko let go of Jack's cloak, stunned. Jack leaned on his staff to help himself to his feet, stepping towards the girl. She had pulled herself into a tight ball, her tiny body shaking like a leaf. As Jack moved closer, he could see that her clothing was filthy and tattered, and her hair was matted. Her feet were heavily calloused and nearly blue inside of ragged sandals. From inside the ball, Jack could hear her sobbing against her knees.

Jack crouched down in front of her and reached out to touch her shoulder, but his fingers passed right through her. He drew back, glancing over at Tsukiko, who was watching him with her arms crossed. He looked down to the ground and began to trace in the snow once more. He pulled his hand away, and from the dirt emerged the soft glowing form of a hare. It shook itself off, frost sparkling across its translucent coat. Jack sat back as the hare hopped up to the girl and gently touched its nose to her shin.

The girl gasped and pressed herself against the wall. Her face clouded over with confusion as she gazed down at the hare. It twitched its ears and wrinkled its nose, and slowly, the girl's face broke into a smile. The hare scratched at its ear with its long hind legs and then began to hop around. The girl laughed, scrubbing the tears from her dirty face. She rose to her feet and began to chase the hare around the alley. She finally caught it, and the hare burst into powdery snow and frost. She sneezed as the frost tickled her nose and sparkled in her eyes. The girl looked around in confusion for a moment, then hurried away from the alley.

Jack watched her go, the smile falling from his face. He jumped a little as Tsukiko spoke from behind him: [When'd you learn to do that?]

Jack glanced up at her in surprise, and rose to his feet. [Oh, uh... in my free time, you know. Trying out something new.]

Her face crinkled in distaste, and she tossed her head. [Whatever! Can we get going already?] she said, walking back down the alley.

[Yeah, fine,] Jack sighed, following after her, rubbing out the drawings on the ground with his foot.

* * *

Jack hopped from one rooftop to another, eyes searching for the flash of white fur or a stream of long black hair, but Tsukiko was nowhere to be found. He even tried calling her name, though typically the only answer he got was the baying of a dog or the disgruntled hiss of a cat.

He paused on the roof of a neglected shrine on the edge of town, his bare feet clinging to the chipped black tiles. It had been a fruitless day of searching. It wasn't unusual for Tsukiko to sometimes take off on her own, but this was the third time this week he'd had trouble finding her for hours at a time, and he was starting to worry. Lately, Tsukiko spent almost all of her time in her hare form. She wasn't interested in playing, and when she was around, often spent her time sitting with her eyes half-lidded, gazing off into space.

 _Maybe she didn't sleep well?_ Jack thought, turning his staff around in his hands. _But that can't be... I was near her warren the whole time... I never saw her leave._

Jack's gaze strayed down to the ground. There was a fresh layer of undisturbed snow around the shrine, which was not unexpected. What was unexpected were the tracks of a hare in the snow, followed closely by the footprints of two tiny feet. Jack's eyes traced the tracks past the shrine, up towards the dense, old forest bordering the town.

Jack jumped in the air and flew towards the forest, keeping an eye on the tracks as he dodged past trees. The tracks lead deeper and deeper into the forest, and the further he dove in, the more he felt the churning of dread in his stomach.

Finally the tracks began to taper out, and Jack touched down on the edge of a moonlit clearing. It was covered in a thick layer of snow, sloping down into a dell. At the bottom stood Tsukiko, her hair like a dark smudge on the snowy landscape. She was doubled over, clutching what looked like a tiny ball of blue light in her hands. Relieved, Jack began to slide down the hill towards her, but froze midway, his eyes fixed on what he'd thought was a lump of snow and leaves at her feet.

Crumpled in the snow, her skin a patchwork of white and purple-black, was the girl from the alley. Her eyes were fixed and unblinking, her blue lips frozen in a small smile, never to laugh or watch a hare run again.


	8. Chapter 8

_A chill evening breeze rattled the bare trees around Jack. From a low branch, he sat watching the milling activity of the soldiers on the snow-topped valley in front of him. On the wind he could hear the murmur of their voices; the occasional snatch of song; the sharp, echoing knock of an axe splitting logs; and the soft whinnying of horses. Even from afar he could smell the smoke from their fires, the musk of freshly dug earth, and the sugary scent of sap from felled trees. As the afternoon turned to evening, the soldiers set aside their work for the day, and settled in for the night._

 _All except for one small soldier, who refused to stop working and join the others. The man stumbled away from the camp and ambled towards the forest, towards Jack. As the figure of the man passed under him, Jack heard a slow and steady stream of mumbling, something about firewood. The soldier shuffled into the growing darkness of the forest, and unwittingly, Jack found himself following along a pace behind._

 _Ahead of them, Jack could hear the water of a small creek trickling over rocks and ice. The soldier's weaving, uneven gait took him straight into the path of the creek, and he went tumbling head over heels into the freezing water. Jack stood back, stunned, as the soldier flailed about in the water for a moment, before pulling himself out onto the snowy bank on the other side. Up close, Jack could see that what little was left of the man's threadbare uniform was of no use in the cold, and even less use now that it was soaking wet; the soldier peeled off his tattered navy jacket and threadbare shirt, and stripped the rags from his bare feet for good measure. His hands trembled violently as they rubbed his arms, and his pale skin was darkening around his fingers and toes. Jack could hear the chatter of the man's teeth and the rattle of his breath as the man sat in a daze, cradled in the exposed roots of a large tree._

 _Gradually the shaking stopped, and the man began to crawl across the snow and fallen leaves, away from the creek. Jack followed along behind. They reached the foot of a plateau, and the sound of the snow and dirt crunching and scraping stopped. In the darkness, Jack could just barely make out the form of the soldier huddled in a ball, and the faint sound of slow breathing. Figuring the man must have gotten tired and fallen asleep, Jack sat at the foot of a tree, balancing his staff across his knees, and waited for the other soldiers to come help._

 _The night stretched. After a while, Jack wasn't sure if it was the faint breath of the man he was hearing, or the breath of the wind sweeping down the plateau. As the dawn broke into a hazy gray light, he got his first glimpse of the soldier's face._

 _He wasn't a man, but a boy, barely old enough to be a soldier. His closed eyelids were deep purple smudges in a once youthful face, now a waxy shade of blue-gray. Dark blood crusted his upper lip and his torn fingernails, still clutching the dirt in front of him, as if he'd tried to dig. The skin was peeling back from his black hands and feet. Ice shimmered on his naked torso. There was no movement of breath in his chest. There was no movement at all, not even the slightest twitch of blood pumping in blue veins. More than anything, it was the incredible stillness of the body that struck Jack – because the soldier he'd followed the night before was just that, a body, and nothing more._

 _Jack found himself unable to move, unable to breathe, staring at the boy's dead face. Somewhere through the trees, he could hear voices calling out the soldier's name, searching for him..._

[Jack!]

He blinked, and it wasn't a boy he was staring at, it was a girl, a tiny girl frozen in the snow. His eyes flicked up to Tsukiko's face, moving and alive, but just as deathly pale in the light of a full moon.

Tsukiko gazed back at him with a knotted brow, cradling the tiny blue light in her hands. [Jack, what are you doing here?] she said.

Jack had to swallow twice before he could speak; his mouth had gone completely dry. [Wha... what do you mean, I... I was looking for...] He reached backwards, his gaze sinking down towards the body at Tsukiko's feet. He felt a lump forming in his throat, and he gulped. [Tsukiko, what's going on? Did you... did you do this?]

Tsukiko bit her lip, and took a tentative step back. [I...]

Jack clambered to his feet, his knees shaking. [Tell me you didn't do this.]

Tsukiko looked around. [You don't understand, I-]

[ _Tell me you didn't do this!_ ] Jack yelled.

Tsukiko winced, waiting for the echo to fade. [Jack, please don't be mad, I... I wanted to tell you, but...]

[Mad? _Mad?_ ] Jack said, running a hand through his hair. [Do you even know what you've done? What could you possibly have to tell me that makes this okay? How many...] Rage choked his words, and he had to pace around for a moment before he could settle his lungs enough to continue. [How many times have I told you that you _can't do this?_ ]

Tsukiko stepped forward. [That's what I'm saying, you don't understand...]

[There's nothing to understand!] Jack snapped. [You _can't_ kill! You killed her, Tsukiko! She... she was just a little girl, and you...] Tears stung his eyes, and he found he could no longer speak.

Tsukiko stiffened. [Well, so what! So what if I killed her!] she shouted, and Jack took a step back. [I was a little girl too, you know!]

There was a ringing silence as Jack just stared at Tsukiko. Her fierce expression eased. [I was a little girl, too,] she repeated softly. [A long time ago... hundreds of years ago... I was a little girl, and I was alive, and I was happy. And they killed me. Bad men hurt me, and left me to die.] Her lower lip trembled. Jack sunk down into a crouch on the side of the hill, until their gazes were level. [They left me to die in the snow,] she continued, [and I was cold... so cold... and I... I looked up, and I saw the moon.]

 _Darkness. The suffocating darkness of water around him. Sparkling streams of light beaming through the water. A sphere of light above, so bright it swallowed everything, swallowed him—_ Jack shook his head.

[I saw the moon, and then I didn't see anything,] Tsukiko said, toying with the flame in her hands. [When I opened my eyes again, I wasn't a little girl anymore. I was a hare, a little white hare, and I wasn't cold... in fact, I _was_ the cold. I could make ice whenever I wanted.] The blue flame floated away to dance around her head. Tsukiko held out her hands, and a ball of ice grew above her palms, sparkling in the moonlight. She tossed it back and forth. [And I was happy, because nobody could hurt me anymore... I could play all day, and no one could stop me.] She spun the ball in the air, and it fell to the ground, punching a hole in the snow inches away from the body. [But then I met that _nekomata_ , in the forest near my home. He wanted to eat me, and I was so scared, until... until he saw my ice. And he told me that wasn't all I could do.]

Tsukiko tossed her head and stepped over the body, towards Jack. [He told me I could get revenge on the humans who hurt me,] she said. [He told me that we were demons, and we were made to hurt humans. And he showed me how to use my power to hurt, to kill humans, and take their energy as my own.] She reached up and coaxed down the ball of light. [And I had power... enough power to make sure no one, no human, no demon, could ever, ever, hurt me again.]

The blue light glittered in her eyes as she turned her gaze to Jack. Another tiny blue flame ignited next to her head – and then another, and another, until she was bathed in a brilliant icy glow. Jack felt the grip of fear in his chest, and he clutched his staff in both hands.

[Jack, I didn't just kill that girl,] Tsukiko murmured, nudging the body with her foot. [I've killed so many I've lost count.]

Jack rose shakily to his feet, stepping back up the hill. [You're... you're a...]

[A monster?] Tsukiko chuckled. [Maybe, but so are you. Why do you think you can control snow and wind?]

Jack took another step back. [I... I don't know...]

[What does cold do? It kills. You see it every winter. Plants. Animals. Humans.]

Jack shook his head. [No...]

[You're a demon. You're a demon, just like me.]

Jack held out his staff, gritting his teeth. [ _No!_ I'm not like you!]

[I know it's hard,] she simpered. [But we're friends, right?] She took another step forward. [You don't want to be alone again... do you?]

Jack eased his grip on the staff. [No, but... I...]

[I'd never let anyone hurt you. I could protect you, and we could be together, forever. You'd never be alone,] she said. She held out a glowing hand towards Jack. He stared at her hand, and his gaze drifted to the lifeless girl in the snow. Jack shook his head and took another step back, so he was looking down at her from the top of the dell.

[I... I don't need you to protect me,] Jack said.

Tsukiko lowered her hand. [Really? But... there are monsters out there, big ones. Don't you remember?]

Jack stared at her, perplexed. There was a blinding flash of light and the blast of an explosion, and Jack was thrown backwards, skidding across the snow. The ground beneath him rumbled. When he opened his eyes again, and his vision slowly adjusted, Tsukiko was gone. In her place was a massive, dark shape. For a moment, Jack couldn't make it out, until he realized he was staring at an enormous front paw. He crawled back towards the dell, and looked up.

Towering above him, nearly blotting out the light of the moon, was the form of a colossal hare. It was so large that it easily dwarfed the trees at its feet. Its fur was a long, flowing wave; it was splotched with spotted patterns split down the middle of its body, bright on one side and dark on the other. Trying to focus on it was like gazing at the surface of the moon rippling on the ocean. High above, he could just make out the form of the hare's head. It lowered its face, and two brilliant blue eyes gazed down at him.

"Tsukiko..." Jack whispered.

There was the sound of rumbling laughter. Jack couldn't place if the sound was coming from all around him, or inside of his head. [You were looking for me, weren't you, Jack?] Tsukiko's voice rang out. [So, what do you think? Am I a monster now?]

[Tsukiko, stop!] Jack shouted.

Tsukiko turned her head, her eyelids drooping. [Why don't you make me?] she taunted.

Jack leapt to the top of a tree, trying to get closer to Tsukiko's face. [I don't want to hurt you!] he said, clutching his staff in one hand, and the top of the tree in the other.

There was another ring of laughter. [Hurt me? You couldn't put a scratch on me!] She leaned in close, so her face filled up the whole field of his vision. [I could eat you in one bite,] she rumbled.

Jack tried to keep a stiff upper lip, but his hands were shaking. [So why don't you?]

Tsukiko turned her head, her nose wrinkling. [I don't need to kill you,] she said. She lifted her face and gazed off into the distance. [I think I'll kill some more of those humans you like, instead.]

Jack nearly fell out of the tree. [What? Tsukiko, don't-]

The wind picked up around them, whistling in Jack's ears. Tsukiko's fur began to stand on end. [Maybe you can protect yourself,] she said, [but you can't save them!]

[ _NO!_ ] Jack screamed, but his voice was lost in the howl of the wind. There was a deafening boom, and Tsukiko burst from the ground. The force of her jump blew the last of the trees away and split the earth. Jack was tossed from the forest like a ragdoll, and it took everything he had to stop spinning and avoid crashing to the ground. He frantically looked around, but Tsukiko was gone.

[No... _no!_ ] Jack groaned, and he shot off in the direction he'd last seen her facing. Forests, fields, mountains, and rivers flew by beneath him. The moon sank towards the horizon. Eventually, he picked out the dark shape of an enormous hare in the distance. He gripped his staff and flew as fast as he could towards it. As he drew closer, he stopped in mid-air, gazing down at the destruction below.

The impact of Tsukiko's landing had set off an earthquake, crushing rock and stone outward in jagged lines. Waves of snow and ice had leveled a village, scattering wood and mud across the landscape. Jack could barely make out the still figures of the villagers dotting the ice below.

Tsukiko turned to look back at him. [I'll be waiting for you, Jack,] he heard her say, and the enormous hare disappeared in a burst of light. By the time his eyes adjusted again, Tsukiko was gone.

Jack sunk to the ground. The horizon was tinged with red as dawn approached. Jack looked around, his staff dangling loosely from his grip, as he took in the broken bodies around him. Men and women, young and old; no one was spared, nothing moved. There was no sound except the long, low growl of the wind sweeping over the ice. He couldn't feel the cold, but he was shaking. Jack hung his head, turning his back on the devastation around him. He looked up towards the rising sun, and jumped.


	9. Chapter 9

Jack's eyes eased open to a haze of gray. Dark shapes crisscrossed his vision, sharpening into the crisp lines of tree branches. He blinked, and a thin film of ice crumbled from his cheeks; he tried to move his arms, and felt the popping and snapping of ice breaking. He turned his head to take in the sheltering boughs of the tree around him, cradling him inside a small hollow. Distantly, he could hear the crackling of ice as it shattered down the branch, and tumbled to the frosty dirt below.

He leaned away from the hollow, peering out around the tree. The woods around him were still and barren. The overcast sky above cast a dim glow on the surface of the frozen lake below. The underbrush around the lake was torn between flowering and death, creating bizarre patches of dark green and bristled gray. Leaves dotted the branches of the trees, but they were curled and brown at the edges.

Jack kicked the last of the ice from his toes, and ripped his staff away from the trunk of the tree with a loud snap. He pushed questions of when and why aside in his mind. He knew he hadn't been sleeping, but couldn't recall what it was he had been thinking about, or what had happened in-between. A spark of irritation pierced the lassitude that clouded his mind, and he swung his legs over the branch, peering down at the lake below, searching for what had brought him back to himself.

There was a rustle in the undergrowth, and through the woods stepped the small, bundled shapes of three children. The leader, a tall boy, was rapping a large stick against the tree trunks as they passed; it was making an incredible racket. Behind him cringed a smaller boy, tugging on the frayed seams of his overcoat; and behind him, a girl, holding up the bottom of her dress as she picked her way through the brush.

The tall boy stopped when he caught sight of the lake, and he swung his stick around to halt the other two children. The stick knocked the breath out of the other boy; the girl wisely stepped aside at just the right moment. "See, what did I tell you?" the tall boy said, waving his hand at the lake. "I found it, didn' I! And it's frozen, just as I said!"

"What's the big deal about some frozen lake?" the girl said, picking burrs out of the edges of her coat.

"Because... it's the middle of summer?" the small boy said, a little breathless.

"Yeah, since when's a lake freeze in the middle of summer, Abby?" the tall boy added.

The girl folded her arms. "In case you two haven't noticed, it's freezing just about everywhere lately!"

The small boy anxiously rolled a loose thread around his fingers. "My dad says it's a bad omen. He says he's never seen a summer this cold."

The girl gave an indignant sniff. "Superstitious nonsense!"

"Oh yeah?" the tall boy chimed in. "You know what else they say? They say these woods are _haunted_."

"Haunted?" the smaller boy squeaked.

Abby waved her hand. "Don't listen to him, Charley."

The tall boy cradled the stick around the back of his head. "It's true, I swear! I heard it from my Gran. She said some kid died in this lake years and years ago."

" _Died?_ " Charley squeaked at an even higher pitch.

" _Drowned._ And you know what else she said?" He stepped a little closer to Charley. " _They never found the body._ "

Charley gave a frightened squeal. Abby gave the tall boy a hard shove. "Cut it out, Ben!" she said.

"What? It's true. They say the ghost of the dead boy still wanders around the woods, looking for kids to drown in the lake."

"Who says that?" Abby said, eyes narrowed. "You're just trying to scare us, and it's not working!"

Charley was practically beside himself, clutching the sleeve of Abby's jacket in terror.

Ben chuckled. "But you've heard it too, right? That eerie crying in the woods?"

Abby tossed her head. "That's just the wind."

Ben pointed at her with the stick. " _Or_ , it's the cries of the ghost!"

Abby seized Charley's arm and began to drag him away from the lake. "Come on, Charley, we don't have to listen to him."

Ben's face fell, and he jumped in their way. "Wait wait wait! Don't go! I wanted to prove it to you, Abby!"

She glared back at him. "Prove what?"

Ben swung the stick over his shoulder and backed up towards the lake. "That there's no ghost!"

Jack leaned forward, brow creasing, as he watched the boy step out onto the ice. The boy tested the surface with his stick, tapping it, before taking a cautious step forward. When nothing happened, he took another step, and another, his boots squeaking against the ice. An occasional slip would make him mill his arms wildly, before catching his balance and continuing forward.

Abby ran to the edge of the lake, Charley clinging to the back of her dress. "Ben! Ben, get back here!" Ben ignored her, picking his way towards the center of the lake. He turned and shot her a triumphant smirk. Abby balled her fists at her sides. "I mean it, I'm going to tell!"

Ben looked around, spreading his arms. "Come out and get me, ghost!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the woods. "I'm right here!"

Abby began to pace around the edge of the lake. Charley peered around her, got one glimpse of Ben out on the ice, and ran back into the woods with a frightened squeal. Abby spun around. "Charley, wait!"

Ben turned to see Charley disappear into the woods. "Coward! There's no ghost, see?" He began to hop on the ice, and then stomp on it, laughing.

Jack gripped his staff with both hands, ice sparkling around his tense fingers. "Kid's gonna get himself killed, all for some dumb lie," he grumbled. He glanced back at the empty shelter of the hollow, still sparkling with frost. "Why should I care? I'm a demon... isn't that right, Tsukiko?"

Down below, Abby took a tentative step onto the edge of the ice. "This isn't funny anymore! We're really going to get in trouble!"

Ben stopped jumping. He gave the woods around him one last look before heaving a sigh. "All-right, I'm coming back." Abby sagged with relief. "But you saw, right? You saw there's no-"

There was a loud crack like the shot of a musket, and the ice splintered beneath the boy's feet. Ben looked down in panic, and tried to run for the shore. The crack was faster; it spread out in every direction, branching out like veins, breaking up the ice. Ben's foot caught on the edge of an upturned shard, and he fell hard, snapping his forehead against the ice.

"Ben!" Abby screamed. She tried to step forward, but the moment her foot touched the ice, more cracks spread out.

Jack looked away from the hollow, his gaze transfixed on the boy as he laid motionless on the ice. Chunks of ice rammed into each other and splintered, creating gaps in the frozen lake. The ice beneath the boy fractured, and in the next moment, he disappeared into the water. Abby gave an anguished wail.

Jack froze. _Darkness. The suffocating darkness of water around him. Falling through the darkness, falling away from the light, falling-_ Jack clutched his head, clenching his eyes shut. Ringing laughter echoed in his ears, blue light dancing behind his eyes. _[Maybe you can protect yourself, but you can't save them!]_

His eyes burst open. His gaze darted back to the broken surface of the lake. The little girl kneeled at the edge, sobbing. Jack felt himself shaking. "Tsukiko's right," he mumbled. "I can't save him. I can't." He glanced back at the hollow once more. "I don't have to do anything. I can just go back to sleep, and all this will go away. And I... I'll be..."

The girl staggered to her feet, her gaze searching. "Help! Help, somebody!" Her cries choked off into a sob.

Jack gritted his teeth, clenching his eyes shut again. "I'll be a..."

 _A glitter of blue, and behind his eyes, a scared little girl laughed and chased after a glowing rabbit. The tinkle of laughter grew into a chorus, as children lobbed snowballs at one another; a elderly man danced and sang and spun a woman around by the hand; a white hare raced through the snow, chasing after two children; it clung to his back, wind whistling through their ears, shrieking and laughing._

Tears stung his eyes, and he flung himself down from the tree, racing towards the lake. He hopped across the chunks of ice, so light his toes barely brushed the surface before continuing on. He reached the gaping hole in the ice. Beneath the dark surface, he could just make out the faint outline of the boy, slowly sinking.

As he stared down into the water, fear gripped him, holding him in place. "What do I do?" Jack whispered. "What do I do..." He leaned down and reached through the surface of the lake, the freezing water nothing to him. His fingertips brushed the top of the boy's head, but passed through in a haze. Cursing under his breath, he pulled his arm back and looked for something, anything, anything at all. His staff clunked against the ice behind him, sending a jolt shooting up his spine. He gave it a hesitant look, and plunged it down into the water.

The crook of the staff sunk down beneath the boy. Through the water, Jack caught a glimpse of blue light like firecrackers sparkling around the staff, and he felt a weight settle onto it. With an enormous heave, he pulled the staff up. The boy crashed through the surface of the water, buoyed by a sparkling block of ice. The staff ripped out of the ice, showering Jack with a puff of snow. A wave rippled across the lake, pushing the chunks of ice outward, leaving the boy floating in the middle. Jack jumped on the other side, hovering just above the water, and knocked the butt of his staff against the ice. A burst of wind shot the boy and the ice forward towards the shore. The girl gasped, scrambling to back away as the ice collided with the chunks cluttering the shore, and the boy rolled off onto the pebbled ground at her feet.

"Ben!" she cried, falling forward. She grabbed him by the armpits and pulled, dragging him further away from the water onto a soft patch of dry earth. She ripped her coat off and threw it over him.

Jack leapt over beside them, peering down at the boy's face. It was deathly pale, his lips tinged with blue. The girl bent over him. "Ben?" she said. "Ben, wake up!" She gently shook his shoulder, but his head just lolled back and forth. She began to sob once more. "No... you can't... wake up, you have to wake up!" she cried, shaking him a little harder.

Jack crouched next to them, a lump forming in his throat. He looked around, not sure what he was looking for, but hoping for anything, knowing he could do nothing. Over the girl's sobs, he thought he heard something approaching the clearing. His grip tightened on the staff, but in the next moment, a blur jumped out of the woods - Charley, his jacket ripped and sagging off one shoulder, his knees smudged with mud. He caught sight of Ben and ground to a halt.

Abby spun around in alarm. "Charley!" Her face scrunched up in pain. "It's Ben, he... he..."

Charley struggled to catch his breath, leaning on his legs. "I... I brought..." he waved weakly at the woods behind him.

Through the tree line crashed the figures of three men. Jack jumped to his feet and backed out of the way as they rushed to the children's side. One of the men knelt to inspect Ben and, to Jack's surprise, appeared to kiss him on the mouth. He did this several times, pausing, and Jack realized he was trying to get Ben to breathe. It worked; just as the man was bending over to try again, Ben coughed and rolled onto his side, vomiting water and gasping. There was an audible sigh of relief as the other two men patted the man on the back, and murmured encouragement to Ben. The boy gazed hazily up at the crowd around him, and for a moment, his gaze settled on Jack. Jack felt a jolt of alarm, but the boy's eyes were unfocused; in the next moment, he looked away, his eyelids drooping shut.

"Come on, let's get him warmed up and get him to a doctor," the man said. He scooped the boy up, wrapping the girl's coat tighter around him. Together, the men ran back into the woods, Abby and Charley trailing behind. The girl paused for a moment, casting her gaze uncertainly back at the lake, before leaping after them and disappearing into the trees. Just as soon as they had come, they were all gone again. Jack was alone once more beside a broken lake, the water lapping softly at the pebbled shore.

* * *

Jack picked his way across the rooftops, leaping from one to the other, peering briefly into the windows of houses before continuing on. He stopped at a warm, glowing window, the shutters crooked and the pane creaked open. Swinging down from the roof, he clung to the windowsill and peered in.

Inside, an oil lamp burned on a night stand, illuminating a bed and a boy tucked under the covers. In a chair next to him sat a girl, her cheeks red and a bit tear-stained. She was clutching one of the boy's hands above the blankets, gazing down at his face.

The boy's eyes eased open, and he looked around for a moment, blinking, before his eyes fell on the girl above him. "A- Abby?" the boy croaked, and broke into a fit of coughs.

Abby dropped his hand as if burnt. She scrubbed at her cheeks. "Ben? You're awake?"

Ben stopped coughing and tried to sit up. He slumped against the pillows. "What happened?"

Abby bit her lip. "Well, you... you fell... you fell in the lake. Don't you remember?"

Ben's face scrunched. "I remember being on the lake, and... I turned around..." His face slackened bit by bit. "That's right... the ice broke." Ben stretched out his hand, reaching for something far above his head. "I was under water, and I looked up and I... I saw..." His hand fell, and he glanced over at Abby, who jumped a little. "I saw you," he said to her.

"Me?"

"Yeah... you... you saved me, didn't you?"

Abby pulled her hands away from his, brushing dirt off her dress. "No, it... it wasn't me."

Ben stared at her, and made another effort to sit up. He leaned against the headboard, wincing. "What do you mean? I remember, you were there... I heard you calling my name."

Abby shook her head. "No, I was... I couldn't get to you... I just sat there, and I couldn't do anything..." Her eyes sparkled in the lamplight, and she sniffed. "I just sat there and cried and I... I couldn't save you..."

Ben reached out a hand to her. It brushed her arm, and she flinched. "Don't cry, I'm here now, I'm all-right, see?" he said, coughing a little. He gave her a weak smile. Abby furiously scrubbed at her eyes and smiled back. Ben's smile drooped, and his brow furrowed. "Wait, but... if it wasn't you... who pulled me out?" Abby wrung her hands and looked away, but didn't say anything. Ben stared at her, but she refused to look back. He chuckled. "Come on, you're not serious. The ghost?"

Abby flushed hard and turned away in the chair. Ben began to laugh, sometimes choked by a cough. Abby crossed her arms. "It's not funny," she grumbled. "I know what I saw!"

Ben leaned forward. "Just 'cause I fell in doesn't mean there was a ghost."

Abby jumped to her feet and began to stomp towards the door. "How do you explain how you popped out of the lake, then?" Abby said over her shoulder,

Ben shrugged, and winced. "I don't know... guess I must've caught onto a piece of ice or somethin'."

Abby's lips pursed. "Forget I said anything!" she said, reaching for the doorknob.

"Aww, don't be like that. I know it was you, you don't have to be so modest."

Abby tossed her head. "Good-bye, Ben!"

Ben leaned against the edge of the bed. "I know why you did it!"

Abby ripped open the door and stepped through the doorway.

"'Cause you lov-"

The door slammed shut behind her, rattling the timbers of the house. Jack heard her feet stomping through the house, and she hurried out the front door and into the night. Moments later, Ben's mother entered the room.

"Was that Abigail who just stormed through here, dear?" she said, smoothing out the bed sheets.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, sinking down into the bed, coughing.

"Such a sweet girl. So nice of her to worry about this delinquent boy of mine," she sighed.

Ben frowned. "Yeah, real nice," he mumbled.

The woman rapped him on the nose. "Lucky she and that boy Charley have some sense, or you wouldn't be here."

"Abby says it was a ghost what pulled me out of the lake," Ben blurted out.

His mother shook her head. "Nonsense. Abby's a sensible girl. She knows there's no such thing as ghosts." She reached out to turn down the oil lamp, and the room was plunged into darkness. Jack leaned forward, frost climbing up the windowsill and across the window pane.

"Good night, Mother," Ben said.

"Good night, my dear," she said. In the darkness, Jack could see her lean in to kiss him on the forehead. "Ghost or not, I'm just happy they brought you home to me," she whispered. She stepped away from the bed, and Jack just had time to float away before the window snapped shut.

Jack drifted up to the roof and tossed his staff aside, spinning to collapse on his back. He gazed up at the starry sky above, and the brilliant light of the full moon.

"You were wrong, Tsukiko," he muttered. "You were wrong about me, and you were wrong about us." He held his hands up, his palms tingling as a blue glow formed the shape of a tiny snowflake, dancing around his fingertips. "If only you could see..." His voice trailed off, and his hands dropped to his sides as he gazed back up at the moon. A breeze tousled his hair, but there was only the muffled sounds of the city to be heard. With a sigh, he rocked off of his back and scooped up the staff. He stood up and looked out over patches of snow and frost on the rooftops. "Well, I think it's been winter just about long enough," he said. Clutching the staff in both hands, he looked up to the sky and jumped.


	10. Chapter 10

If the weather back home felt unusual, it was nothing compared to the frozen summer in Tsukiko's homeland. There were certainly traces of her up and down the vast string of islands: avalanches pouring down snow crusted mountains; crops withered and blown to the ground; starving cattle stumbling on frozen ground; peasants wrapped in all they owned, their ears red and their fingers purple. Gone was the familiar drone of insects and the spates of summer rain, replaced by howling wind and driving sleet. Jack followed the swath of misery down past the mountains, back to the forests creeping towards the sprawling city of Edo, hidden in billowing fog.

Jack stepped beneath the trees that were now so familiar to him, his staff trailing behind him, streaming frost along the path. As if guided by instinct, he found himself picking familiar trails to the rocky clearing in the forest where he'd met Tsukiko. He floated to the top of the boulders and gazed around the hazy clearing, the wind brushing his hair along his brow.

[Took you long enough,] a voice spoke behind him. Jack whipped around, holding his staff at the ready.

Standing like a shadow next to the trees was Tsukiko. Her eyes glowed with a dull blue sheen in the haze as she stared at him. There were dark rings under her eyes, and her cheeks were lined with tracks of ice crystals.

[Tsukiko...] Jack said. He swallowed hard, but his throat had gone completely dry.

Tsukiko's eyes drifted down to the staff pointed at her, and back up to Jack's face. [I was beginning to think you weren't coming back,] she said in a dull, even tone. She threw her arms open. [Do you like what I've done with the place? It's much better now, I think. I can stay out and play as long as I'd like,] Tsukiko said. Her fingers traced the knots in a pine. Ice prickled out from beneath the bark. [Did you come back to play with me?]

Jack lowered the staff a little. [Listen, I just want to talk to you...] he began.

Tsukiko's eyes flashed. [Talk? What's there to talk about? You're not still thinking about the humans, are you?]

Jack held out a hand. [Just let me explain. You don't have to hurt them...]

Tsukiko clapped her hands over her ears. [No! Shut up!]

Jack took a cautious step down the boulders towards her. [We're not demons, we-]

She shut her eyes and shook her head. [You don't understand! You'll never understand!]

[I do! I do understand...]

Fresh tears squeezed from Tsukiko's clenched eyes. [You're here to kill me, aren't you?]

Jack shook his head. [No! No, I'd never hurt you...]

[Liar!] Tsukiko snapped. [You lied to me, right from the start! You never wanted to be my friend! You wanted to get rid of me, just like the humans! You're no different from them!]

Jack gripped his staff against his chest. [That's not true, just listen, please-]

[ _No!_ I'm not going to listen any more! If you want to kill me, Jack, then go ahead and try!] With that, her body erupted in blue light, and she slammed her palms against the ground.

Spikes of ice burst from the dirt, shooting out towards Jack. He jumped and the first few shattered against the rocks, but the last one launched straight towards his head. He managed to deflect it with his staff at the last moment; it clattered to the ground behind him. Tsukiko did not give him a chance to rest; spikes were ripping out of the ground like trees, morphing and twisting in their attempts to reach him. Jack dove and swerved out of the way. He tried destroying the spikes with his staff, but the shards fluttered in midair and shot back towards him, ripping small holes through his cloak like buckshot. Soon the air around him was filled with glittering shards of ice. In desperation, Jack sank down and struck the top of the boulders just as the shards sped towards him in a tinkling wave. Wind burst from the staff and spread out in all directions, blasting away the ice and the haze surrounding the clearing. Jack rose trembling to his feet.

The clearing was unrecognizable. The trees all around had been shattered and blown apart. Grasping tendrils of ice crumbled back to the ground, leaving broken, menacing shapes. The rocks beneath him were fractured, as if raked by enormous claws. Amidst it all stood Tsukiko, wreathed in a vivid blue glow. The flames danced in her wide eyes, her brow twitching.

[I don't understand,] she mumbled. [Why won't you fight me? Aren't you here to get rid of me?]

Jack sagged a little. [I told you already, I don't want to hurt you...]

" _Fuzakenjanai!_ " she cursed, and Jack flinched. [How can you be so strong, but so stupid? You already hurt me, Jack,] she said, her lower lip trembling. [You said you were my friend, but you turned your back on me. I tried to talk to you, and you wouldn't listen. You ran away.] Fresh tears dripped from her eyes, crusting into ice. [Do you want me to say that I'm sorry? I'm not. What is so special about them? How can you see them as anything but the monsters they think we are?]

Jack bowed his head.

Tsukiko glared hard at him for a moment, and tossed her head, turning away with a sigh. [Why don't we play one last game?] she said. Jack looked up. [Edo's not far from here. There's lots of humans there, right?] She held up a hand, and a ball of flame jumped down from around her head, swinging around her fingers. [There are even powerful humans there, if you believe that. A _shogun_ , they say. I wonder what it would be like if I had his power? In fact... I wonder what it would be like if I had all of their power?]

Jack just stared at her in growing horror. She turned back around with a smirk. [You don't want that to happen, do you, Jack?] she said. [So? Do you want to play one last round of tag with me?] Before he had time to do much more than gape, there was a burst of snow, and a white hare hung in midair before him. [You're it!] she squeaked, kicking him in the chest. Then she was gone.

For a moment Jack was seized with a familiar panic, staring at the ice crystals glittering in the air where Tsukiko had once been. Then he was tearing after her, the wind howling around him, leaving a hail of dirt and bark and snow in his wake as he ripped through the forest, following the glistening trail of ice she left behind. The suffocating crush of trees burst into open fields blurring past him. He weaved in and out of farming villages and river towns, tracing a path of destruction that Tsukiko cut like a arrow bouncing around the landscape. As he reached the outskirts of the city he started to catch up; he could see glimpses of her white tail flashing around corners, ducking under carts, and leaping over rooftops. Icicles shot at him from every barrel, puddle, and horse trough, slowing him down as he was forced to defend himself or others. All the while her laughter rang out, echoing in the city streets as darkness fell and their chase took them through the sturdy gates of a fortress and into the palace grounds. As he hopped over the clay tiles of the elaborate buildings, there was a bright light, and the sky lit up. Jack was momentarily blinded, and he shielded his eyes with the back of his arm as the light dimmed. He let his arm fall, blinking spots out of his eyes, trying to focus on the scene before him.

Not far from the palace, the foundation of an old tower, long since destroyed, loomed over the fortress. Standing on top of it, just barely able to keep her footing, was Tsukiko in her enormous demon form. The moonlight shone off of her waving fur, her eyes wide and glowing in the darkness. Her tail swayed behind her, and the wind behind it tore tiles from roofs and nearly blew over centuries-old trees. Each breath she exhaled rolled over the fortress like a blizzard. Jack could hear confused and terrified screams as he clung to a roof, feeling the tiles trembling beneath his hand.

Tsukiko's colossal head revolved towards him, her nose twitching. She drew back, and her fur glowed a vivid blue. She threw her head to the moon, her mouth gaping, and the air filled with a piercing scream. The shockwave of the scream burst outward, sending Jack tumbling end over end along the roof. Ice erupted in every direction, following the echo of the scream out over the city. Lanterns blew out, plunging the area into darkness. Shards of ice twirled through the air and dusted the ground. The moon shone off the ice, creating an eerie glow.

Jack clung to the edge of the roof, his ears ringing. He pulled himself up, groaning. He glanced over at the tower base, but the mammoth hare was gone; in the rising glow, he could just barely make out the flickering blue outline of Tsukiko's human form. He leapt over to the stone base, holding out his staff as he approached her.

She was breathing hard, her arms hanging at her side and her back bent. Her flowing black hair had escaped from its wrapping and hung loosely around her. The blue flame surrounding her sputtered and shed pieces like shattered glass. Tsukiko turned her head ever so slightly to acknowledge him, the glow dancing off of her eyes.

[You caught me,] she said, her voice faint. She gave a little chuckle, a weak smile tugging at her lips. [But, it's too late.] She turned to look back over the castle, and Jack followed her gaze.

Stretching out before them was an endless stream of people, forming into a massive crowd. Soldiers, peasants, priests, concubines, merchants, and nobles all mixed together as they trudged towards the tower base and bowed down. Their faces were empty and their gazes unfocused. Tsukiko waved her hand, and a man stepped through the crowd, dressed in elaborate robes. He laid himself at the front of the crowd, and a hush swept over the palace. A man Jack had only glimpsed from afar - the _shogun_.

The ice was growing, crawling up the feet of the crowd, swirling around in the air. Jack could see even the most elegantly dressed courtiers shivering. The temperature plunged, and their faces were turning blue.

Jack turned back to Tsukiko, working out a lump in his throat. [Tsukiko... you don't have to do this,] he said. [These people haven't done anything to you. Can't you see this is wrong?]

Tsukiko glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. [It's okay, Jack,] she said. [I'm not hurting them. They're going to be my friends now. They'll never betray me. They'll be with me, forever.] She tilted her head. [As soon as they are dead.]

Jack stared at her in disbelief. His gaze flickered back and forth between the enchanted crowd, slowly freezing, and Tsukiko's cold, detached face. He took a deep breath, drawing up his shoulders, his brows a firm line. [It doesn't matter how many of them you kill,] Jack said, inching closer to her. [They can't ever be your friends. They can't talk to you. They can't play with you. They can't hold you when you're sad.]

Tsukiko's gaze tore away from the crowd, her eyes widening as they fixed on Jack. [Stop...]

[They can't laugh with you. They can't sing with you, or tell stories.]

[Shut up!] she snapped. Ice shot at him, but he knocked it aside.

[They won't love you or care about you. They'll just be stuck, crying, afraid. Just like you.] Jack drew a hand behind him. He felt warmth flow into his palm as a snowflake grew beneath his fingers, splintering and fracturing.

The flames around Tsukiko flickered and roared to life, dancing around her. [I'll kill you!] she screeched.

Jack shook his head. [You could try, but we both know you can't. You won't. You don't want to kill anyone, do you?]

Tsukiko stomped her foot, ice shattering against the stone. [Yes, I do! I have to!]

Jack took a step closer. The snowball was forming in his hand, giving off a faint glow. He squatted down, placing his staff against the stone floor, and pushing it just out of reach. Tsukiko's eyes darted after it, then snapped back to him. He held out his free hand to her. [We could be friends again. I'll stay here with you, forever. Just let them go.]

Tsukiko hesitated, glancing back and forth between the slowly freezing crowd, and Jack's outstretched hand. Some of the people in the crowd were starting to collapse, their bodies glowing.

Jack gave an urgent step forward, until he could almost touch her. [Let them go!] he yelled.

Tsukiko's brow furrowed in anguished confusion, and her gaze slipped from Jack's hand in front of her, down to his side, where the glow of the snowball was starting to show around his cape. Her face contorted with rage. [You liar!] she howled, stumbling backwards. Her hand snapped back, a glowing icicle nearly ripping the skin of her fingers to burst into life. Alarmed, Jack pulled out the snowball at the same moment Tsukiko's arm swung towards Jack's head. The snowball and the icicle collided, and a flash of light erupted between them. Jack felt a sharp pain rip through his forehead, and the world exploded into white.


	11. Chapter 11

Gazing up at a brilliant white sky. The sky fractures into drifting shards, softens into the floating petals of a cherry tree. Pink blossoms twirl down like snowflakes. She reaches up for them, spiraling around, watches them dance around her whirling arms. Spinning a little too fast, falls over. Dirt smudges her robes, pain sparks, she cries out. The sky goes dark. She looks up. Someone is standing there, long black hair cascading down into her tear-stained face. Gentle hands grasp under her arms, and she's being lifted high up into the air, soaring back up into the cherry petals. A soothing hum, a soft thumb brushing away the tears. They begin to spin around together, and she squeals with joy. Laughter like a stream trickling down smooth stones. Warmth, comfort, embracing.

The petals swirl, turn pale, turn cold. She's watching them twirl against an inky black sky, glittering in the light of a full moon. Trembling naked on her back, feeling warmth starting to creep in, the snow a blanket around her. She reaches for the tumbling snowflakes, but her arm barely moves, her fingertips blackening. Her eyelids weighted down as if by stones. The soft brush of snow in the silence, she turns her head. Eyes glittering, ears twitching, a hare watches her, nearly invisible in the snow, transfixed, wary. Her arm shifts, it leaps towards her. It hangs in mid-air against the moon. She's falling, falling down into the snow, the white over her head, the black over her head.

 _He's falling endlessly, weightlessly, in the infinite black. His eyes burst open, and the black weighs heavily on him, pressing against his eyes, pressing against his ears, filling his lungs. Spinning in the void, falling backwards, floating up towards a distant white. The sky shatters, drifts apart, separates, opens a space for him to rise out, the black washing away. Air bursts into his lungs and he takes a first, staggering breath._

Air rolls into her lungs, and she leaps to her bare feet. They're no longer feet, but white paws. She wiggles clawed toes, blinks her round blue eyes. Twitches long ears, hears the turning of the wind, the rustle of leaves in trees, the squeak of mice deep beneath the snow. The hare gazes up at an enormous, wide world stretching over her head. Gazes up at the moon.

 _He hangs below a full moon, water tumbling from his cloak. Settles down on the icy surface of a lake. He takes a step and nearly trips. Inspects the culprit, a long stick, a walking stick, a staff. Bends to pick it up, nearly drops it. One end snaps against the ice, frost leaping from the bark, spiraling against the ice. He taps the trunk of a tree, more frost patterns circling. Seized with wonder and joy, he runs along the ice, making the frost dance, laughing. Scooped up into the air by a breath of wind, tumbling about wildly. Crashing through tree branches._

Leaping through the forest, ducking under the brush, tossing around leaves. Quick as a flash, faster than a bullet. She stumbles over her large feet and lands sprawling over the roots of a tree. Shocked, scared, annoyed. Ice prickles under her paw pads, shoots out along the tree root. Blue eyes round as coins, taps her paws against the trunk of the tree, watches more ice push out from under the bark. Squealing with delight, kicking from tree to tree, filling the woods with the sparkle of ice.

 _Far off the glow of a fire flickers in the woods. He jumps, lets the wind carry him to a small village, all ramshackle wooden houses. Villagers bustle around, children run. He turns to greet them, but they pass right through him in a bluish haze. His stomach drops, his body shakes. Stumbling out of the way of the other villagers even as they pass right through, unblinking, unnoticing._

She peers around the edge of the porch, ears twitching. A woman's long black hair tumbles over a straw mat floor. She's bent over in grief, clutching a small robe and wailing. The little hare hops up onto the wood planks, nudges close to the woman, her legs stretched. She presses her tiny cold nose to the woman's hand. The woman shrieks, makes a swipe at the hare. The hare flees, screeching with bewilderment and sorrow, streaking back to the forest.

 _His hand trails around the curve of a tree trunk, frost curling up the ridges of the bark. Peering around the tree, he sees the girl again, her back to him, her legs dangling off the edge of a boulder overlooking the lake. Her long brown hair falls over the shoulders of her dress and past her face. He sits down next to her, but she doesn't turn her head, doesn't blink. She gazes down into the frozen surface of the water, her eyes unfocused. He leans over the edge, but he only sees her broken up reflection, tears streaming down her face. Turns to look at her, but she's gone, running off into the forest._

She crouches on the edge of the forest, her ears laid across her back, her eyes round as she watches children play in a snowy field. They run after each other and laugh, their arms out stretched. She looks down at her own paws, looks back up at them. She creeps out over the snow, edging closer. One child nearly stumbles over her. They spot her, and the chase is on. She's much too quick, running them around in circles. She'll slow down just enough for a child to brush the fur of her tail before leaving them behind in a cloud of snow. The sun sinks to the horizon, staining the snow a deep crimson, and the weary children leave the field for home. She sits alone amidst the kicked-up snow, her blue eyes watering in the waning light.

 _In the misty dusk light, he watches the wooden casket lowered into the cold ground, surrounded by a thin crowd of mourners dressed in black. His eyes stray to the words etched in freshly hewn stone, pass over the scroll of dates. Wasn't it just yesterday that he'd sat next to her at the lake? When was the moment that her youthful laughter aged into silence? Now her own children cluster around her grave, their wails piercingly loud over the pastor's eulogy. He gazes down at his own hands, every shallow line familiar, his skin smooth and unaffected by the rigors of time and the fragility of the body that had laid her low. In that moment he understands that he will not, cannot, ever join her._

She dances around the frost-covered trees in the dead of night, her paws leaving tracks in the snow. A child dances after her, wheeling around the tree trunks and singing out of key. He stops, looks up at the light of the stars, and turns towards home. She stops, watching him look around in confusion, stumbling back along the trail of her paw prints. No. Stop, she says.

 _The children scream beside the grave. No. Don't leave, they cry._

Don't leave. Don't leave me here.

 _He clutches his hand to his chest, his eyes squeeze shut. He thinks, Don't leave without me. Don't leave me here alone._

Alone. She's racing after the boy, her fur glowing softly. Her heels strike the small of his back and he goes down into the snowy underbrush. His head hits a rock with a sickening thock, and he lies still. She sits beside him, wide eyed in disbelief, in horror. Her paws settle on his arm, and the glow seeps from her to him. From his back emerges a faint light, growing brighter, coalescing into the shape of a tiny hare like a dancing flame. It leaps towards her, and she reaches for it, feels the warmth as it touches her paws. Her whiskers twitch as she feels life pour into her. In the back of her mind, she still hears the boy's toneless singing.

 _The men on the field below him are singing a rousing, patriotic tune, their voices thick with drink and hope. The men are screaming and dying in a raging hell. The men are silent, their bodies strewn across the field, the remnants of a flag fluttering in the wind._

The wind sweeps back her robes as she steps through the forest, a trail of blue lights waving behind her like a cloak. In her head, children giggle and shout and screech. Children murmur and sigh and sob. Her teeth grit with the need to push the voices back, to overcome the smile on her lips.

 _He smiles as he watches the children play on the lake their grandmother once visited. He knows all their names. He knows their first words, their first steps, their first friends and their first heartaches. He knows them better than he knows himself. And yet he still sits silently, woefully, apart._

The animals of the forest stand apart from her. Creatures of myth big and small flee from her. She's swallowed up by rage. She's drowning in sorrow. The voices are an endless roar, and yet she's alone in a deafening silence.

 _In the silence of the night, he gazes up at the moon._

Beneath a bright round moon, she closes her eyes.

 _He asks of the moon, Who am I?_

She whispers beneath her breath, Why am I here?

 _What am I meant to do?_

Why am I so alone?

 _If I could have anything, he thinks,_

If I could have anyone,

 _I'd want someone to finally see me._

I'd want someone to set me free.

 _I want to exist._

I want to let go.

The moon was a white disk in a black sky. Its glow burned and grew to a brilliant thunderclap.

They splintered apart.


	12. Chapter 12

Jack hit the stone, the shock radiating up his back and rattling his head. Lights burst in his eyes, and he groaned, rolling to the side. The where, and when, and what questions floated around his mind as he blinked the lights away. He lifted his head, and the world swam into focus.

The pale pinks and yellows of sunrise tinged the sparse clouds above. The air was sweet and heavy with the dew of morning. A warm, soft breeze drifted through the trees, the leaves rustling like the lap of water. The last of the night was a purple shadow like a bruise on the land. Against the fading shadows, Tsukiko kneeled, her head bowed, her body awash with blue light. The flames were breaking up like shards of ice, drifting away in the morning breeze. They swelled and shrank, until only a single, pulsing flame sat in her palms, cradled against her lap.

She lifted her head, and the first rays of morning light sparkled in her eyes, overflowing like molten fire down her cheeks. Her eyes met his. [Jack,] she said.

His head was pounding. He crawled over to her. In her hands, the light twisted and writhed into a new form. The long ears and feet, the twitching nose of a hare with blue eyes, gazing up at him. As he drew closer, he noticed the rays of sunlight piercing through her. He reached out to brush the tears from her cheeks, but his fingers fell through with only a hint of cold on his skin. She reached out to do the same, and he felt the slight chill of her fingers as they brushed through his own cheeks.

"Tsukiko..." he said, swallowing a lump in this throat.

[Thank you,] she said, and the shining hare's mouth moved at the same time. [I had forgotten. I forgot what my mother looked like.] She turned to glance at the rising sun, and the hare's head turned as well. [She's been waiting for me a long time.]

Jack's hands clenched into fists against the stone, his nails pricking against his palms. "No..."

[You lied to me again, Jack. But it's all right now.] She leaned forward. [You were right. You were right about everything. This is what I wanted, all along.]

He reached for her hand, but it was gone. Only the hare remained, gazing up at him. Even that was beginning to fade, its white fur curling up into the air like a breath of hot air on a cold day. "No... you can't..."

[I'm sorry. You'll forgive me, won't you? They've all gone ahead of me. I can still hear them. I hear them calling for me.] she said in a small voice growing smaller. Jack felt something warm settle on his hand, and looked down to see the hare's paw. [You're not alone, Jack. Can't you hear them?] He heard the whistle of the wind blowing past his ears, brushing away the last of her words. " _Sayonara_ ," she whispered.

" _Sayonara_ ," Jack said, and the warmth and light on the back of his hand were merely the rays of sunlight beaming down onto the stone. Around him, the city was stirring back to life. People stumbled away, confused but alive, the air filling with the growing murmur of voices. They filed away, leaving him kneeling alone, bathed in the morning light, unseen, unheard. He craned his head to gaze up at the setting moon.

* * *

Jack sat in his usual spot in his favorite tree, his leg swinging over the branch. The trees were thick with new green leaves. Birds were singing and darting from one branch to another. The wildflowers were just beginning to bloom, choking the air with a thick perfume. A cool breeze stirred the surface of the lake below. All in all, it made Jack a bit nauseated. He sighed and counted off the days until winter in his head.

In the distance he could hear the tolling of church bells, and the faint tinkle of children's laughter. There was the rustle of movement in the underbrush. Curious, Jack swung upside-down from the tree, eyes searching for a hint of movement. There. A dark shape was flitting between the trees. It paused for a moment as the sound of children's voices grew closer, and Jack got a better look.

It was a rabbit, but the biggest rabbit he'd ever seen. It was covered in deep blue fur like the indigo flowers around its massive feet. It was standing up on two legs like a person, clutching the frail bark of a birch tree with its clawed hands. Strangely enough, it had some kind of weapon strapped to its back; a wooden thing cradled in a leather strap. It was holding onto a basket filled with brightly colored eggs. Now that Jack thought of it, he realized he'd seen these eggs hidden around the forest before. The children of the town went crazy looking for them. Was this the source?

Jack was leaning so far out of the tree now that he was dangling from his toes like a bat. A branch cracked. The rabbit's huge ears swiveled around, and it turned to look right at Jack. The two locked eyes for a moment, and their expressions were mirrored wide-eyed surprise. Jack fell out of the tree with a crash. A second later, his staff fell out of the tree as well, hitting him on the head with a crack, leaving him dazed.

A blurry blue and white shape swam into view. "You alright there, mate?" a voice said above him.

Jack scrambled out from under the rabbit, scooping up the staff. The rabbit eyed the staff, and reached for its own weapon. "You... you can talk, too?" Jack said. "Just how many talking rabbits are there?"

The rabbit tilted its head. "Must've taken a pretty hard hit there, eh? 'Course I can talk. I'm the Easter Bunny."

"The wuh?"

The rabbit flung out a hand. "E. Aster Bunnymund," he said.

Jack eyed Bunnymund's hand, and reached out to take it. "Jack Frost," he said.

"Ack- watch it!" Bunnymund said, ripping his hand away and shaking it. Frost glittered on the fur of his palm. He eyed Jack with suspicion. "Say... what are you, anyway?"

Before Jack could answer, there was a loud squeal from close by. They both looked over to see a child jumping up and down through the brush, holding up an egg in triumph.

"Aw, crikey!" Bunnymund swore, and he bounded off, leaving Jack a bit stunned with his hand still held out.

Moments later, children swarmed into the clearing, swinging baskets, ripping out wildflowers, tearing through the brush. There was a scuffle as two boys, Ben and Charley, found the same egg at the same time and fought over it. Abby swooped in and filched eggs from both their baskets while they weren't looking. Like a hurricane, the children blew in and blew out.

Jack let his hand fall to his side. "Easter, huh?" Wind swirling around him, he jumped back up into his favorite tree. He stretched out along the branch, arms behind his head. He glanced down at the children's footprints scattered across the loamy earth below. The children didn't even notice the huge paw prints they trampled over. Jack smiled.

The End - _owari_ \- 終わり


	13. Notes

These are notes for historical and cultural context, as well as my own personal notes... think of it kind of like a DVD commentary.

 **Chapter 1** :

I picked the age 100 for many different reasons, but mostly because I felt like this is the age where Jack has now witnessed at least a couple generations come and go, and is starting to get a real sense of his immortality. Up until this point I can justify the idea that he might have stayed in the immediate area, not only out of insecurity and fear, but also because the time period between 1712 and 1812 was fairly eventful in Pennsylvania. The war brewing up north is another reason Jack might be interested in leaving the nest.

The black cat is a not so subtle reference to Thackery Binx from Hocus Pocus.

The log cabin is ostensibly the one Jack's family might have lived in.

 **Chapter 2** :

The Edo era... one of the most romanticized periods in Japan. Probably has something to do with the prolific art and elaborate styles of the period, and the fact that it was relatively peaceful.

 _Ukiyo-e_ block prints are iconic of this period.

If you're not too familiar with Japanese history, Edo is the previous name for what's now Tokyo.

Translation: " _Hanashite!_ " = "Let go!"

 **Chapter 3** :

Translations:

" _Kochirakoso, dare? Naze atashi o oikaketeita?_ " - "Same to you, who are you? Why were you chasing me?"

" _Kono fuku ga okashii,_ " - "These clothes are funny."

" _Kono kami mo!_ "- "This hair, too!"

" _Kore nani?_ " - "What's this?"

" _Tokubetsu da?_ " - "It's special?"

" _Naze nan darou..._ " - "I wonder why..."

" _Atashi wa Tsukiko,_ " - "I'm Tsukiko."

Tsukiko talks in a weird mix of formal and informal Japanese. I didn't try to make her speech historically accurate, since Jack's English isn't.

Tsukiko's appearance is typical of the classical Heian period in Japan (794 AD to 1185 AD)

 **Chapter 4** :

"required neither food nor sleep" - so years ago I had the opportunity to ask Hamish Grieve, the head of story for the film, a few questions about Jack and the Guardians. One of the questions I asked was about if the Guardians needed food or sleep. His general consensus was that they could, but they didn't need it. The Guardians most closely related to humans (North and Jack) were probably more capable of it than the others.

Snow rabbits are a typical thing that Japanese children make in the snow in winter; usually made out of a ball of snow with two leaves for ears and berries or something like it for the eyes.

Translations:

" _Mieru?_ " - "Can they see me?" This is actually a single verb (to be able to see) used as a whole sentence with context implied... Japanese is great like that.

" _Touzen da yo!_ " - "Of course!"

" _Doko da?_ " - "Where are you?"

" _Kakureteiru kana..._ " - "Maybe he's hiding..."

" _Bikkurishita..._ " - "That surprised me..." Often said after being startled.

" _Youkai._ " - A very broad term for spirits/demons/monsters

" _Bakemono nan da._ " - "It's a monster."

" _Tomodachi?_ " - "Friends?"

" _Yakusoku shite,_ " - "Promise me."

" _Sayonara!_ " - "Good-bye!" This is usually said when you won't be seeing the person again for a long time.

 **Chapter 5** :

The beginning touches on the original idea from visual development for the film that Jack Frost was the one to change the colors of the leaves in the fall.

Translations:

" _Okaeri!_ " - "Welcome back!" Usually said when greeting someone who has just returned home. The corresponding answer to this is "Tadaima" ("I'm back").

" _Kakurenbo!_ " - Hide and seek.

" _Shinpai shita._ " - "I was worried."

" _Ano..._ " - "Well/umm..."

" _Jakku wa... modorenai ka to..._ " - "Whether or not... you'd come back..." It's typical to use the person's name rather than the word "you".

" _Un, yakusoku!_ " - "Yeah, promise!"

" _Eto... ah, souka!_ " - "Uh... ah, that's right!"

" _Sou, sou! Tobe!_ " - "Right! Fly!"

" _Mattaku..._ " - "Good grief"... exasperated expression

" _Yatta! Seikou!_ " - "Yeah! It's a hit!"

" _Eto... mahou mitai darou?_ " - "Uh... it's like magic?"

" _Kimochi._ " - Feelings

" _Ii kimochi, ka..._ " " _... warui kimochi._ " Good feelings or bad feelings.

I was interested in some sort of explanation for Jack's powers to inspire a sense of "fun" in people using snowflakes or snowballs. In a way this seems almost a bit of a sinister power, because in some ways it completely overrides a person's nature (Cupcake, Bunny) to instill an emotion or behavior.

 **Chapter 6** :

The game Jack and Tsukiko play near the bridge is a Japanese word game called " _shiritori_ ". The only object of the game is to say a word that starts with the last syllable of the word your opponent used. The only rules are that the words have to be nouns, and cannot end in "n". Jack loses the first round because "kibun" ends with an "n".

The words Jack and Tsukiko use: _yuki_ (snow), _kibun_ (feeling), _uma_ (horse), _mahou_ (magic), _uso_ (lie), _sousou_ (funeral)

A _nekomata_ is a type of Japanese demon, typically appearing as a cat with two tails. This particular one is an example of a mountain nekomata, a monstrous cat that preys on humans. Nekomata are mostly evil creatures that are thought to have necromantic powers, raising or controlling the dead, and are sometimes associated with fires.

This particular nekomata is designed after the Tsushima leopard cat.

Demons are sometimes associated with the stench of sulfur.

"A cornered rat will bite a cat" - " _kyuuso neko wo kamu_ " - a Japanese idiom with a fairly obvious meaning

Tsukiko calls the demon "sensei", a respectful (and well known) term for a teacher, hinting at their past together

"Neko-chan" - the suffix "-chan" is typically added to the names of little girls. "Neko" means cat. Tsukiko is mocking him.

 **Chapter 7** :

Tsukiko is talking about an encounter with a _tanuki_ , also known as a raccoon dog. They have a mythological history in Japan as tricksters.

 _Sake_ is rice wine alcohol.

Tsukiko and Jack move to Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan that was mostly inhabited by the Ainu during this period.

Translations:

" _Dewa, itterasshai!_ " - "Well, see you later!"... "itterasshai" is traditionally said in response when someone leaves the house, something like saying "drive safe" nowadays

" _Ittekimasu_ " - "See you" ... traditionally said when leaving the house

I was curious why if ever Jack might have learned to use his staff for combat; in this case, he is training not just to protect himself against external threats, but also in a way to protect others from Tsukiko, though this is just in the back of his mind at the time

The wolves are a now extinct species alternately known as the Hokkaido, the Ezo, or the Japanese wolf, native to the island of Hokkaido. About the size of a gray wolf.

"Droning of bugs" - reference to the sound of cicadas in the summer in Japan

Jack's outfit is kind of typical for a commoner traveling during this period, probably pilfered from clothes lines.

 **Chapter 8** :

The flashback is a reference to Valley Forge, the infamous military camp during the American Revolutionary War where over 2,000 soldiers died, many of disease and exposure to freezing temperatures.

The lights or fire around Tsukiko are known as _hitodama_ , the souls of the dead often depicted as balls of fire in Japanese folklore... artistic liberties were taken to give them the appearance of rabbits

As a demon, Tsukiko is larger than most small towns and can make incredible leaps across Japan, setting off earthquakes when she lands. Her fur is split evenly down the middle with one half having the appearance of the "light" side of the moon and the other having inverted markings like the "dark" side of the moon. Her features as a demon hare are highly exaggerated with extra long ears and a long tail.

 **Chapter 9** :

The children are talking about the "Year Without a Summer", a real event in the year 1816 where a volcanic eruption in Indonesia caused a dramatic climate shift, causing frost and snow in the middle of summer in parts of North America.

 **Chapter 10** :

" _fuzanken janai_ " - Tsukiko's softened this a bit, but it still essentially means "stop bullshitting me"/"you're so full of shit"

The shogun in the Edo era was not technically the ruler of Japan - the emperor was - but they might as well have been as the military leaders of Japan.

The stone foundation inside the palace that Tsukiko is standing on is the remains of a five-story tower that was once the highest tower in Japan before it was destroyed in a fire in 1657.

Thanks for reading! - Tigrin


End file.
